


Gathering Evidence

by CuddlerOfDragons



Category: Lucifer (TV)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-11
Updated: 2018-12-27
Packaged: 2019-03-16 20:36:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 22,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13643988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CuddlerOfDragons/pseuds/CuddlerOfDragons
Summary: Inspired by the fight scenes in 'Sweet Kicks' and 'Orange is the New Maze'.  Chapters three and after inspired by and containing spoilers for season three finale.Going totally off piste while I wait for season 4  (sorry)





	1. Chapter 1

Another day, another dead guy in an old building.  Seriously, they should just tear these places down; they were obviously _too_ tempting as disposal sites.

Ella was in a buoyant mood as she came up the stairs to look at the corpse and then dazzle everyone with her insights.

That had been the plan, right up to the point where she had trodden on a rotten floorboard, twisted her ankle and felt something crunch.

Dan and Lucifer were closest.

“Fibula.” Lucifer said, picking her up as though she weighed nothing.

“What?” Dan asked.

“She’s broken her right fibula, just above the ankle joint.”

“How would you _possibly_ know that?” Dan asked, incredulously.

“I heard it break.  They all make a slightly different sound.”

“What, all 200 odd of them?” Dan asked, not sure _exactly_ how many bones there _were_ in the human body but willing to bet that Lucifer knew.

“Yes.”

“I don’t know what’s weirder, Man; that you know that or that you know what each one sounds like.”

“Definitely the latter, Dude.” Ella said, as Lucifer carried her back down the stairs, with the intention of driving her to the hospital.

Dan rolled his eyes and mentally filed the incident away in a part of his head labeled ‘Things I can’t explain about Lucifer’.  It was getting quite crowded in there…

 

 


	2. One Hell of a Bender

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ella and Dan share a few drinks. Set after 'Orange is the New Maze'

 

 

Ella picked up the shot of tequila and downed it in one.

“That’s not usual for you, is it?”  Dan asked, sitting down beside her.

“Not a usual day, Dan.” She said, reaching for the next shot.

“Whoa, how many have you had?”

“Not nearly enough.”

“Did something happen to one of your brothers?” He asked, gently, knowing how protective she was of them.

“ _No_ , why would you think that?  It was the crime scene at the winery; freaked me _right_ out.”

“No one even died, not _there_.” Dan said, puzzled.

“No, but we might have trouble proving the sniper.”

“I think that the statements will hold up in court all right,” He said with a smile, “After all, there’s plenty of evidence.”

“Not got the rifle.” Ella said, reaching for another shot.  Dan put his hand on hers, halting the drink’s progress to her mouth.

“How have we _not_ got the rifle?  Lucifer’s statement said that _he_ dis _armed_ the sniper.”

“Oh, he did _that_ alright.” She swallowed her shot and put her head close to Dan’s ear.  “You wanna see it?” She whispered.

“You said we didn’t have it.”

“ _We_ don’t, _I_ have.” She glanced down at the gym bag on the floor at her feet.

“It’s in _there_?  You’ve _stolen_ evidence?  Why. Would. You. Do. That?”

“Lucifer.” She said, taking another drink.

“He asked you to?  Is he _blackmailing_ you or something?”

“Nope, he doesn’t even _know_.”

“Then _why_?”

“Just _look_ at it.”

Dan opened the bag.  He looked at the rifle for a long time; taking in the improbable angle and, most damning (ha!) the imprint of a thumb in the metal.

“He actually did this?” Dan asked, needlessly.  He reached for a tequila shot.

“He ‘disarmed’ the suspect.”

“I’ve not seen anything like this, outside of a Bugs Bunny cartoon.”

“Roadrunner?” Ella offered, helpfully.

“Can we get some more drinks?”

***

“So, I ran all the way to Lux, looking like total shit - smelling like it too, I guess - the doormen didn’t even look at me twice.  I get upstairs to the penthouse and he’s there, on the floor, dead!”

Ella nodded and took another shot.

“Seriously, I’ve seen enough corpses to tell; his eyes were open and glazed, there were bullet holes in his shirt but, and here’s the thing, no blood.  So then he sort of gasps - nearly gave me heart failure - and gets up and he’s fine.”

“Coulda been staged.” Ella said, with no conviction at all.

“Oh yeah, I’m sure he likes to put on a tux and lie on the floor of his penthouse on the off chance of scaring someone.”

“Well, when you put it like _that_ …” She scrunched her face, as though she was concentrating.  “Ooh, I’ve got one - not as good as yours but still… You remember the ‘Body Bags’ murder?”

“Totally tragic, yeah.”

“Yeah, _he_ thought so too and I wanted to ask him… I actually said: ‘I was wondering…’ and _he_ thought I was going to ask if he would have sex with me, which I _totally_ wasn’t; and he was _up_ for it, right there, at the _crime_ scene, on the victim’s unwashed bed.”

“Ugh.”

“But the really _weird_ thing?  For a second or two, I was gonna; like I couldn’t help myself.  Just for a second, before sanity kicked back in and I explained what I’d _really_ wanted to ask him.”

Dan downed another shot and ordered some more, while Ella got a faraway look in her eyes.

“I thought about that a lot, when I got home from work.” She said and a tear rolled down her face.

“Did he try to push you?”

“ _No_ , nothing like that, it’s just… it was like he _couldn’t_ say no.  He was actually telling me why it was a bad idea at the same time he was agreeing to it.  It got me thinking; it’s like the way people are, who’ve been _really_ badly abused as kids.  They think that that’s all they’re good for.” 

“Mistaking sex for feelings.” Dan said, emptying another glass. “I was watching with him when all those lovers came in that time.”

“Wow, yeah, so _many_.”

“Yeah and to start with he was _happy_ , you know.  They were all telling Chloe how it had been the best night of their lives…”

“What _all_ of them?”

“Yeah.  They didn’t know he was watching, obviously because they all said _that_ and then said that it was just meaningless sex.  He just looked so _hurt_.  I went from being impressed to really feeling bad for the guy.  He‘d remembered _all_ of their names and what they’d enjoyed doing and they… didn‘t give a shit.”

“Makes me sad to think of someone hurting him.”

“Remember Boris?”

“Head-in-a-box-Boris?  I’ll never forget _him_.”

“When we went undercover to talk to him at the steam baths, I got to see Lucifer naked…” Dan said, thoughtfully.

“And…?”

“ _No_ , nothing like that but his _back_ … He has these two scars, huge things and they match, one either side of his spine… I saw someone once who’d had skin grafts and they’d failed.  It looked a bit like that or like someone had maybe tried to _skin_ him… but in a pattern.”

“Wings?” Ella asked, wide eyed.

“There’s no _way_ I’m drunk enough to even consider _that_.” 

“How’d you two fool Mr. ‘Human Lie Detector’ anyhow?”

“Yeah, _that_ was disturbing.  Lucifer looked him right in the eyes and said he wanted to kill Lucifer Morningstar, then he listed a load of reasons.”

“And Boris _believed_ him?”

“Yeah.  When I asked him later, _how_ he had lied like that and fooled Boris, he said he _hadn’t_ lied.”

“That is so messed up.”

“So’s standing up for a sniper and goading him to shoot.  He’d done that a few days before, remember?”

“But if shooting doesn’t work on him..?”

“No, it does; Chloe shot him, in the leg.”

“I don’t remember _that_.”

“No, it was before you were working here.  He bled and limped and all the normal things…”

“But he’s not… remember my ankle?”

“When he told you which bone you’d broken by _hearing_ it?”

“He was right on the money.”  She looked up at Dan with bleary eyes.  “You know those tiny bones in the middle ear?  D’you think he knows how _they_ sound when they break?”  She slurred, putting her head down on the table and falling asleep.

***

Everything at work was too bright and too noisy.  Ella looked up at Lucifer with red eyes.

“Feeling a little delicate, this morning?”  Lucifer asked, his smirk didn’t reach his eyes.  “I’ve just seen Daniel; the two of you look like you’ve been on one hell of a bender.  What did you do, drink tequila all night and then fight over the worm?”

“Pretty accurate.  I wanted to talk to you about that sniper from yesterday.”  Ella said, wishing her head would stop pounding.

“What about him?”  Lucifer asked, his voice trailing off as Chloe walked past the lab door.

“He’s made a full confession, why do you ask?” Chloe said.

“Just wondered.” Ella said and then thought her heart would break as she watched Lucifer watch Chloe walk away…

***

Ella put a large coffee down on Dan's desk.

"I've just seen Lucifer; dude's _dying_ inside."

"Huh?"  Dan took a large gulp of the coffee.

"So, he knew we'd both been drinking tequila last night, yeah?"

"Yeah.  I didn't tell him, you?" 

"No.  He probably smelled it on us but he made a comment about us fighting each other for the worm."  She looked at Dan, waiting for comprehension to dawn.  It was obviously going to be a long wait.

"So, his usual sarky self."  Dan said, at last.

" _No_.  Don't you get it?  Tequila isn't the one with the worm.  That's mezcal, Lucifer would know that, right?"

"He does know alcohol, yeah."

" _Yes_ ,"  Ella said, with the enthusiasm she usually reserved for particularly bloody crime scenes, "So, it means that he's stopped caring."

"About his insults?"

"Not really feeling insulted but my point is that he's just going through the motions.  _Saying_ stuff like that because we all expect it.  Hiding and crying out for help at the same time."

"Because of Chloe and Pierce."  Dan said, slowly. 

" _Yes_.  It's _obvious_ that he loves her.  Maybe _he_ doesn't realize, maybe he just knows that he's in pain.  I'm thinking maybe he never had the right frame of reference, if his childhood was rough."

"What we were talking about, last night?"  Dan said,  "I realized something, I don't care _what_ Lucifer is - devil, angel or _alien_ \- I'd still rather Chloe was with _him_ than with Pierce..."

 


	3. A Handful of Dust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Set after S3-E24. Contains Spoilers.

The word had gone out.  All the corrupt cops in the L.A. Sinnerman network knew and a plausible explanation was put forward to the honest ones - no need to investigate reports of gunfire at _that_ address.  The loft space of that particular building is being used as a movie location.  No one is in any danger, only blanks being fired; members of the public calling it in, were to be reassured then ignored.  No action to be taken.

Dan and Ella didn’t get the memo.

“God, where do we _start_?”  Dan said, looking around at the central space.

There had obviously been one hell of a shootout.  Bullet holes in the pillars and in some of the art works, bodies scattered around and, in the center…

Blood, feathers and what looked like Pierce - flat on his back, not moving.

“I guess we should check for survivors.”  Ella said, answering Dan’s largely rhetorical question.

“Assume they’re all hostile.”  Dan said, walking over to Pierce.

The body looked odd, not the clothes, they were the same as he’d been wearing when Dan had seen him last but the _skin_.  Pierce’s face and hands looked strangely _out of focus_.

“What do you make of this?”  Dan asked.

Ella finished putting on her gloves and handed Dan a pair.

“Not sure.  The knife and the blood suggest he’s dead but his skin looks…”  She reached and touched the side of his neck, where his pulse would be.

There was a soft whispering sound as Pierce’s body collapsed in on itself.  Infinitesimal motes of dust contained within his clothes, so fragile that the weight of his garments pressed his remains flat with an almost-sigh.  Fine gray powder billowed out where his head and hands had been, smoothing out the shape.

“Night of the Comet.”  Dan said, with a short bark of laughter.

“Cain.”

“Huh?”

“Oh, I’m _with_ you, ‘Night of the Comet’, the unprotected people get dissolved, the half protected become flesh-eating zombies.  Dude from ‘Voyager’ was in it.  _Lucifer_ said Pierce was _Cain_.”

“How is that even…?”

“Imagine it’s all true.”  She said, reaching down to check the pulse on another body.

“The Bible?”

“Has been translated, mis-translated, interpreted to help the people in charge control the masses _and_ was written by people who would have thought that a ballpoint pen was witchcraft.”

“So, they’d have been trying to make sense…”

“Seven days is probably symbolic of the time it took from the big bang to humans.  If _Cain_ existed he would have been born millennia ago and if he only just _died_ …”

“Then his remains might have turned to dust.  Tell me why we’re buying into this..?”

“The feathers, Dan, look at the _feathers_.”

He looked.  They were scattered everywhere, impossibly white, even against the pale flooring; the blood which stained them only made them look whiter in contrast.  They were faintly glowing.

“Fibre optics?  Glow in the dark paint?”

“It’s daytime.”  She bent to another fallen bad guy.  “Live one.”  She said.

Dan kicked the machine gun away from the unconscious man and cuffed his hands behind his back.

“So what you thinking?  _Lucifer_?”

“Well, he and Decker _are_ conspicuously absent and that window up there, was broken _inwards_.”  She pointed to the wrecked window at the top of the stairs.  It didn’t exactly have a cartoon man-shaped hole in it but it was close.

“That’s _Maze’s_ knife.”  Dan said, looking back at Pierce’s dusty clothes.

“Bring it.  I’ll collect the feathers.  Then, I’m calling this in.  There's someone I know, in the FBI, _should_ be trustworthy.”

“When we track down Lucifer and Chloe, I’m going to be asking some _very_ deep questions.”  Dan said, carefully pocketing the knife.

“The way I figure it, Decker _must_ know the truth  _now_ and Lucifer… I guess he never lied to us.”

“Guess not.”


	4. Now That We Know

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since the 'bonus' episode 'Boo Normal' will not be part of season 4 (if we get a season 4) I feel that it should belong earlier in season 3. I'm thinking sometime after 'Vegas With Some Radish' but before Pierce starts trying to get with Chloe. it's fairly obvious from the way the characters interact that a lot of season 3's later sh*t hasn't happened, yet. (Had it been screened as part of season 4, presumably the characters would have had time to get over their recent trauma and been behaving as if nothing had happened) Therefore, I approached this chapter with the assumption that 'Boo Normal' has already happened, quite a while in their past.  
> I hope this makes sense.

* * *

 

 

 

“Are you sure bringing them here is the right thing to do?”  Dan asked, hefting the trash bag full of feathers.

“Where else?  Can’t just pitch ‘em in the garbage, they’re too glowy, they‘d be found.  This way Lucifer can do what he likes with ‘em.”

“We need to get Mr ‘only-child’ hitman ready for your Fed. friend.  D’you think Lucifer will be here?”  Dan sounded nervous at the prospect.

“You _scared_ of him, now?”

“If he’s…”

“He’s still the same person he was this morning.  Chill.”

The elevator door dinged and opened onto the penthouse.

It was quiet and had that feel to it that humans instinctively recognise as ‘nobody home’.  Dan pulled his gun anyway.

“Someone’s been here and taken the prisoner.”  Ella said, looking around, nervously.

“Lucifer _really_ needs better security.”

Thunder rumbled and the lights flickered.  It was dark out and the rain, which had just started to fall when the two of them were driving into the parking garage, had gotten heavier.

A flash of lightning had Dan running to the balcony door - he could swear he saw a body out there.  He knew there must be balcony lighting but he had no idea where the switches would be, so he had to go off his inadequate night vision.

Sure enough, the man in the expensive suit was face down and soaking wet.  Lucifer?

“Call 911,”  He shouted back to Ella.  She took her phone out.

“I can’t let you do that,”  The voice of her ‘friend’ was uncharacteristically quiet as she took the phone.

Dan crouched by the man and pulled on his shoulder; the limp body rolled over in that terrible, unnatural, _boneless_ way of the freshly killed.  Lightning flashed, illuminating the face.  Dan screamed.

“Ray-ray?”  Ella said, shocked, following it up with: “ _Dan!”_ as she heard the scream.

Dan was sitting in a puddle, where he’d landed after his reflexive backward jump.

“It’s like someone took a blow torch to him.”  He whispered, devastated; he looked up at Ella and saw Ray-ray behind her.  “Who’s _she_?”

“She’s my friend, she’s a ghost and how come _you_ can see her?” Ella said, almost too quickly for Dan to follow.

“I’m sorry,”  Ray-ray said, “I didn’t like lying to you, I just wanted you as a friend, Ella.  I’m not a ghost, I’m Azrael.”

“The angel of death?”  Ella breathed.

Dan moved instantly, off the ground and into a protective stance between Azrael and Lucifer.

“You can’t have him.” He snarled, hot tears running down his face.

“ _Really_?”  Azrael said, an amused glint in her eye, “And who would stop me?”

She looked so… nerdy and _harmless_ but Dan could feel every hair on his body stand up at the sound of her voice.

“ _Ray-ray_?” Ella was still having trouble dealing with this new information.

“Or would you, perhaps, offer to go in his place, Daniel Espinoza?” Azrael asked.

“I…”  Dan scrubbed the tears from his face and glanced back at Lucifer’s limp form.  “Yes.” he said, quietly.

“Even knowing who he is?”

“Yes.”  Dan said, with more confidence.

“Can I ask why?”

“I… my ex-wife _loves_ him, my _daughter_ loves him, I’m pretty sure he loves them and… he’s my friend.”

“So you would condemn yourself to _Hell_ , for him?  You would willingly die, now, in this instant?”  She fixed him with a cold gaze and her wings unfurled.  There was a horrible _finality_ to the sound of her wings; the sound of a body bag zipping shut, a sheet being pulled up over the face, soil hitting the lid of a coffin…

Dan closed his eyes and nodded.

“ _Nah_ , I’m just messing with you,” Azrael said, in a much lighter tone of voice,  “I’m not here to take the soul of my favourite brother, or _your_ soul either, Daniel.  I’m here to _help_ him.”

“Ray-ray, _not_ funny.”  Ella said, through gritted teeth.  “What’s _happened_ to him?” She asked, gesturing at Lucifer.

Azrael knelt by Lucifer’s side, somehow, her wings were gone again.  She gently laid the back of her hand on his face, then opened one of his eyelids.  Red hellfire swirled where his dark brown iris should have been.

“God.” Dan said, Azrael gave him a look.

“Not nearly.“ She said, “He’s in shock.  I can lift him but he’s so much taller than me, I’ll need help manoeuvring him.”

The three of them got him into the bedroom in a seated position on the bed, then Dan and Azrael got his clothes off while Ella kept him upright.

Azrael hissed when she saw the wound on his left arm but made no comment on his impressive burns.

“Hell-forged blade,” She said. Leaning down, she rummaged in the trash bag full of feathers.  Ella blinked, she would have sworn that those had been left, over by the elevator.

Azrael finally found one with no bloodstains on it and laid it carefully on the gaping wound.  The feather’s glow brightened until Dan and Ella could no longer look at it, then it vanished and the wound with it.

“Wow.” Ella said, appreciatively.

“Let’s get him laying on his front, I need to check his wings.” Azrael said.

“Where did the _burns_ come from?  Shouldn’t we be treating _them_?” Dan asked, when the still limp and unresponsive Lucifer was face down across the bed.

“He was all but incinerated when he first arrived in Hell, he healed, though.  This is just… manifested _memory_.” Azrael replied, gently running her hands down Lucifer’s spine and pressing.  There was a whoosh of air and a clatter of flattened bullets, as pure white, glowing wings sprang from his back.  Azrael ran her hands over first one, then the other, checking for wounds and shaking spent bullets out as she went.  At last she folded them again and appeared to press them back into Lucifer’s body.

“How do they disappear, like that?” Dan asked.

“They’re trans-dimensional.” Ella said, “Right?”

“You got it.”  She rolled Lucifer over onto his back.

“What now?”  Dan asked, flinching at the sight of his friend, stripped down to his silk boxers, his whole body one massive burn scar.

“He’s still very cold.”  Azrael said and smiled, “What he needs now, is a heat source.”

“Lucifer, you in here?”  Chloe’s voice echoed from the main living area.

“Right on cue.” Azrael said, with a very Lucifer-like smirk.

“She can’t see him like _this_.”  Dan hissed.

“Of course she can, already has.”

“Lucifer?”

“In here, Decker,”  Ella called.

“Lucifer?”  Chloe gasped, looking at him, “Is he..?”

“No.  Tell me what happened.  How did he get stuck, like _this_?”  Azrael asked.

“Who are you?” Chloe asked, not taking her eyes off Lucifer.

“She’s Ray-ray.”  Ella said.

“Your ‘ghost’ friend?”

“Yeah.  Turns out she’s not a ghost, she’s Lucifer’s sister - the angel of death.”

“I’m not here to take Lucifer,”  Azrael said, reassuringly as Chloe instinctively moved closer to the bed.  “Tell me what happened _after_ Cain died.  I‘d‘ve stuck around but I‘ve waited too long for that one, not to take him to Hell, in person.”

“You were _there_?”

“Up until his soul crossed the threshold.”

“I missed that part, when _I_ came in, Lucifer was crouched by the body, he got up, turned around - looking like _that_ \- before I could finish picking my jaw up off the floor, he spread his wings and vanished.”

“And then?”

“I didn’t think he’d come _here_ \- Dan, Ella and that other guy… What happened with him?”

“He got away.”  Dan said, disgusted.

“No.  I got here _before_ the two of _you_ , he and one of his colleagues were sneaking out through the parking garage.  We had a little chat and then I handed ‘em over to your friend from the Feds.  They’ll confess; probably have already.”  Azrael said, smiling at Ella.  “Why don’t you and Dan go downstairs to the bar, have some drinks, I’ll join you in a while.  I need to talk to Chloe.”

After they’d gone, Azrael came back to the bedroom to find Chloe sitting on the bed holding Lucifer’s hand.

“Does it hurt him?” Chloe asked, gesturing at Lucifer’s skin.

“No.  It was healed millennia ago, it’s not his _truth_ any more but _he_ needs convincing of that.  Where did you go next?”

“I went to Linda - Lucifer’s therapist - I had a hunch that _she’s_ known for a while.  We talked, then she and Maze went to _my_ place to be with my daughter - Maze wanted to keep her and Linda close, to be safe, she said.  I came here.”

“You care for my brother?”

“I love him, yes.”

“Even like this?”

“I didn’t fall in love with his _looks_ , I fell in love with his _soul_.”

“Good.  He needs warming up and he needs to feel loved - maybe some skin to skin contact?  Maybe talk to him, like he‘s a coma patient?”

“I can do that.”

“I’ll be downstairs, I’ll make sure you’re not disturbed.”  She leaned over and kissed Lucifer on the forehead, “Smell you later, Lu.”  She whispered, wondering if, like _some_ coma patients, he could hear her.

As soon as they were alone, Chloe stripped to her bra and panties and lay down next to Lucifer.  She snuggled close to him and pulled the covers up over them both.  She started to talk.

She told him how much she loved him and for how long, she told him about what had happened to Maze and reassured him that she, Linda and Trixie would be fine; she was still talking when she fell asleep.

***

Lucifer had gotten used to waking up alone, so, when he started to wake, for a moment he didn’t remember what had happened.  He could feel someone else’s naked skin snuggled up to his, an arm across his waist, a head tucked under his chin.

“Hel-lo,”  He said, playfully, looking down to see what vision of beauty he had taken to bed last night.

He froze.  He was looking down his body - at his burned, horrifically scarred skin, made more horrible by the contrast with the smooth _flawless_ skin of his latest conquest.

‘ ** _Please_** _, let this be a nightmare_.’  He thought ( _prayed_?)

“Luc’fer?”  The woman who was about to be driven insane, murmured sleepily against his chest.

‘ _No, no, no,’_ He thought.  How could he get away, without her seeing?  He was _under_ her and she was… No.  It _couldn’t_ be…

“Detective?”

“You’re awake,” She breathed, sounding more coherent.

“ _Detective_.” Lucifer said, urgently, “Keep your eyes closed and whatever you do, don’t open them.”

“Don’t be silly, I want to check that you’re alright.  I was so worried, last night.”

She raised her head and looked at him, while he shrank away and tried to get the pillow to swallow him.

“At least you feel warmer, you were so cold and your sister said you were in shock.”

“My what?”  He asked, weakly.

“Ray-ray.  She’s sweet, isn’t she; I don’t quite understand the part where she’s Ella’s imaginary friend… ghost… whatever… but..”

“Azrael was here?”

“Last night.”  Chloe said, scooting up the bed a bit so she could kiss him.

“Can’t you _see_ me?”  Lucifer said, squirming away.

“Mmm hmm.”  She said, kissing him some more.

“Why are you doing this?”

“I thought it was about time…”  Kiss,  “..that we took..”  Kiss,  “..the next step..”  She kissed him full on the mouth, his lips parted - in shock, he thought - and her tongue slipped in as though invited.

He wanted to wrap his arms around her but he couldn’t.  He was afraid that she would suddenly want to escape and he didn’t want her to feel trapped.  He returned the kiss, though, letting her suck his tongue into her mouth, seeing her eyes widen as she realized… Damn.

She pulled back a little and looked at him.

“That’s.. er.. Is that thing _forked_?”  She squeaked.

“Yes.” He said, apologetically.  “When I’m in this form.”

“Show me?”

He put it out and she had a good long look.  He playfully flicked the pointy tips, realizing, at last, that she _wasn’t_ going to run screaming.

“ _That_ opens up new possibilities.”  She said, blushing.

“I’m a monster, Detective.  I killed a human.”  He couldn’t bear the idea of sex - love making? - while he was in _this_ form.

“In self defence.  Your sister took him to Hell, in person.  She said she’s been waiting to do it for a long time.”

“It’s _my_ fault he went there.”

“No.  It’s _his_ fault.  He’s lived a long time and he could have spent that time atoning for what he did.  Instead he… Do you know _why_ I found it so _hard_ to believe in The Sinnerman?”

“No, why?”

“Because the myth stretches back for so long - centuries, before America, before… As long as there has been civilization, there has been the myth of The Sinnerman.  Spreading doubt amongst honest people, a shadowy figure who masquerades as a good person, with _allies_ who pretend to be good.  Who can people _trust_ when The Sinnerman could be anyone.  True evil.  Of _course_ he belongs in Hell.”

“Sounds like you’re describing me.”

“What did _you_ ever do that was _evil_?  Questioned authority?  Sounds to me like your father _needed_ questioning.  Killed in self defence?  I’ve done that one, too so I guess we’ll be in Hell, together.  If you were _evil_ , you wouldn’t be beating yourself up about killing him - you wouldn’t care.”

“ _Look_ at me, I _am_ a monster.  You can _see_ it, _everyone_ will see it.”

“Dan and Ella saw it, last night.  They weren’t scared _of_ you, they were scared _for_ you.”

“They know?  They’re still sane?”

“As they ever were.”  She indicated his scar tissue.  “ _This_ , is not _you_.  This is something that _happened_ to you once.  Ray-ray said that you _healed_ , so that means that _this_ , is a lie.”  She leaned in and kissed him again.  “You don’t tell lies, Lucifer, remember?”

He looked at her in wonder, as his ‘Devil form’ began to recede and he was, once more, the most beautiful of angels.

 


	5. Aftershocks

 

 

“I used to think I was happy.”  Lucifer’s voice was soft but perfectly audible.

“Mmm.”  Chloe mumbled, half asleep, into his chest.

“When I decided I wasn’t going back to Hell.”  He clarified.  “I’d come to Earth for the odd break, before - orgies, music festivals, that kind of thing - never more than a couple of weeks before Amenadiel would come to drag me back.  Then I decided I wasn’t going to let him.  I’d helped him find his damned necklace - he’d had it stolen - and _still_ he called me evil…”

“Jack-o-lantern.”  Chloe breathed.

“Huh?”  Lucifer looked at her as though she was insane, or maybe talking in her sleep.

“Amenadiel.  _That’s_ why he looked familiar when you first introduced us.  Back when I was still in uniform, he came to report his necklace stolen and showed me a picture he’d done of the thief - a man in a ski mask - the picture looked like a jack-o-lantern.  I thought he was joking… then there had been a murder in the same area as the robbery…”

“Did you by any chance come to Lux, while you were investigating?”

“It wasn’t called Lux back then, it had cage fighting…”

“Bloody Hell, you’re the reason I _stayed_.  _You’re_ the reason it started to feel like home…”  He trailed off, deciding to revisit _that_ one later.  “I told Amenadiel where to stick it, got Maze to cut off my wings and thought I was happy.”

“And then…?”

“Well, not _always_ happy, obviously.  Amenadiel kept popping up to order me back to Hell, Maze kept on at me to do something ‘significant’ but more or less, I was.  Then…”

“You met me?”

“Yeah.  After that I was only _really_ happy when I was with you.  All the things that _used_ to make me happy - sex, drugs…”

“Rock and roll?”

“Music _is_ the closest thing I get, to how I feel with you; the rest of it is… just ash.”  He said, seriously.

“So, if _I’m_ the reason you stayed…”

“Dad must have wanted me here.”

“And me as well - the whole miracle thing - to make you vulnerable?”

“You know about the miracle?”

“Mom and dad told me my whole life.  Now I know it’s an _actual_ possibility… How long have _you_ known?”

“Since just before…”

“My poisoning.”  She sighed, as realization dawned.  “You said it ‘Did You know this whole bloody time?’ and I suppose I did, in a way but I never believed it, not really.”

“Why not?”

“My mom.  Why would _she_ have wanted a baby?  It put a hold on her career, being pregnant; then endless child care commitments and, as soon as I was old enough to walk and talk, the make-up went on and the auditions started.  Like she was trying to make the best of it.”

“Maybe your dad…”

“Who wasn’t a religious man, what?  Made a _wish_?”

“I don’t know.  All I know is that Dad sent Amenadiel to bless your parents…”

“ _Amenadiel_ did it?”

“I already asked him, he doesn’t know any details.”  He said, pre-empting her next question.

“Mom always said that my dad was the one who _believed_ that they would have me ‘ _and like a miracle, he was right_.’ I had it quoted to me endlessly - usually when Mom was trying to motivate me for ‘important’ auditions.”

“She felt that you were destined for greatness?  Consort of the devil probably _not_ what she had in mind.”

“She actually thinks that you’re _perfect_ for me, _I’m_ ‘strong and serious‘, _you’re_ ‘fun‘.  I guess together we balance, the way she and Dad did - only the other way around.”

“ _I’m_ not fighting it any longer; seeing you with someone else was _killing_ me.”

“We’re even, then.  Seeing you married to Candy almost ended _me_.”

“We never slept together.  It was just a business deal.”

“Why did it have to be _legal_?”

“Because I don’t lie.  After my Mum tried to kill you, I thought it would be a good idea if she thought I was over you.  Safer for _you_.  I couldn‘t tell everyone that Candace was my wife, if she _wasn‘t_.”

“Tried to _kill_ me?”

“She put a bomb under your car - Amenadiel talked her out of detonating it.”  He tightened his hold on her.

“Charlotte really _did_ die in that hotel room.”  She said, in a flat tone.  “All that time, she was possessed by your mother.  Dan slept with…”

“The Goddess of all creation, yes.  Then, when Mum left, Charlotte’s soul came back and they genuinely fell in love.”

“Poor Dan.”

“He’ll see her again.  Amenadiel took her to heaven.”

Chloe’s phone buzzed.  She leaned across Lucifer, to retrieve it, her movement dragging her bare nipples over his chest.  He squirmed and smirked - instantly hard.

“Decker.”  She said, transforming into ‘cop mode’.

She listened for a minute or so.

“I’ll track him down, text me the address.”  She hung up.  “The FBI require the pleasure of our company at an, as yet undisclosed, crime scene.  They tried calling _you_ direct but your phone just goes to voicemail.”

“It has a bullet in it.  I’ll need to order a new one.  Have we got time to…”  He glanced down.  Chloe’s eyes followed his.

“We’ve got time for a shower.”  She said.

“I can work with that.”

***

The FBI had a trailer - one of those ridiculously large things with a small lab at one end, an incident area and even interrogation rooms.  It was into one of these rooms that Chloe and Lucifer were ushered.

“Miss Decker we’re going to need a hair sample from you.”  The male agent said, once he had observed the formalities of I.D.ing everyone present.

“What?  _Why_?”  Chloe was immediately defensive.

“When did you last eat or drink anything that had previously been handled by Marcus Pierce?”

“I…”  Chloe thought about the lemon bars that Pierce had baked - specially for her…  “A few weeks… maybe… what did he do?”

“We’ll do a blood test but I think it’ll be negative.  Hair’s better.”

“Okay.”  Chloe nodded and a gloved woman cut a piece of her hair, close to her scalp, behind her ear, where the loss of it wouldn‘t show.  Chloe could feel Lucifer tensing with rage.

“We know that you and Mr. Morningstar are not involved in Pierce’s organization but if you have any idea where he is..?”

Already prepped for this question by Ella, both Chloe and Lucifer answered in the negative.

“Thought not.  He seems to have bolted.  We don’t think it was well planned, this time; he’s left too much evidence behind.  Files, security tapes and a journal.  He writes about _you_ , Miss Decker.  It seems that he became obsessed.  He writes that you are his ‘salvation’ and he must make you fall in love with him.”

Lucifer growled, quietly.

“You attended an Axara concert, together?”

“Yes.  I was given tickets and Pierce… sort of invited himself.”

“It seems he spiked your drink, that night.  It’s a subtle substance, completely harmless, it makes a person feel happy and, if used the right way - for example whenever you are out on a date with the person dosing you - it can make you associate feeling good and being with the person.”

“So you _think_ that you’re falling in love?”  Hot tears of rage burnt behind Chloe’s eyes and she blinked them back.  “That _bastard_.”

“We’ll need to test your daughter, as well.”

Chloe stiffened, not trusting herself to speak.  Lucifer smoothed the back of her hand.

“It seems that The Sinnerman network has been using this drug to ensure the loyalty of new recruits - typically recruited from care homes - orphans who, for one reason or another, haven’t been adopted.”

“Sick…evil…”  Chloe couldn’t think of a bad enough word.  Lucifer did his best to appear impassive.

“Over time, the brain is so used to the feeling, that the drug is no longer needed.  It explains the kind of loyalty that makes a man gouge out his own eyes, on the orders of his mentor.  The pen he used has been retrieved from your evidence room and tested.  Pierce‘s DNA is all over it.  You and he made the arrest, Miss Decker, which one of you put the cuffs on?”

“Pierce.  You think he gave him the pen?”

“We do.  Pierce was concerned about _your_ ‘interrogation’ technique, Mr. Morningstar but he also manoeuvred you into engineering a jailbreak, for the suspect.  This was, apparently, a test.  He wanted _you_ to kill the man but ended up doing it himself.”

“He was about to talk, I think.”

“And this put a wedge between you and your partner.”

“Yes.  Detective Decker wouldn’t believe me, wouldn’t listen…”

“I’m sorry…”  Chloe whispered, wondering how she could have been so blinkered.

“Tell me about Mazikeen Smith.”  The agent said, changing the subject.

“Maze was my roommate, we.. er.. had a falling out but we’re over that.  She’s.. um.. guarding my daughter and another friend, right now.  Why?”

“We think that she took it upon herself to bring Pierce down.”

Lucifer made a noise in his throat that may have been disbelief.

“She was very badly bruised, when I saw her last night.”  Chloe said, ignoring the look on Lucifer’s face.

“We know that, as a bounty hunter, she enjoys a challenge and the security footage that we retrieved from Pierce’s ‘hideout’, tells a story…”  He pressed a remote control,  “There’s no sound, I’m afraid.”

The large screen on the wall showed various different views of an interior that _could_ be described as ‘industrial chic’.  Pierce was on a sofa while Maze, in one of the views was sneaking up behind him with one of her curved knives at the ready. 

Pierce had a gun but despite that, a fight ensued.  Just as it looked as though Maze had won, Pierce said something to her which caused her to hesitate and Pierce stabbed her in the neck with a syringe.  They watched as Maze was dragged away and handcuffed to some metal pipes.

“This next footage is from later, Pierce has left some men guarding her.  They obviously don’t think her a threat…”

Men were sitting around, drinking and playing cards in one camera angle and Maze was waking up, in another.

“ _This_ is remarkable,”  The FBI agent says, pointing at Maze.  “Most life forms drugged unconscious for that amount of time, need a while to recover after they wake but this one…”

On the screen, Maze is fighting, like something out of an action movie.  She takes out two men then rounds a corner to where the card game is going on.  Lucifer smirks as they watch Maze rapidly and decisively take out the men.

“Twelve men are dead - we’re calling it self defence, based on this footage - Miss Smith is then picked up on various street and traffic cameras, _running_ to a location over four miles away.”

“Linda’s office.” Chloe confirmed.

“Is Linda _alright_?”  Lucifer asked, suddenly worried.

“She’s fine,”  Chloe said, reassuringly,  “I was there, last night.  Maze said that Pierce threatened to have Linda killed.  Told her that someone was already in place.”

“That’s how he stopped me from telling you all the Sinnerman stuff, at the beginning.  He said that The Sinnerman came at you through your family and reminded me that, as a mother, you had more to lose than I did.”  Lucifer said, quietly, to Chloe.

“We have two of his people in custody.  One of them the man who was assigned to kill Espinoza.  A friend of one of my colleagues, your Miss Lopez, tipped him off about a crime scene and this man at _your_ penthouse.”  He said, to Lucifer.  “He went to your place _first_ and Lopez wasn’t there.  By this time, _another_ of Pierce’s men had shown up, rescued the first one and… it gets a bit fuzzy here… _something_ had happened to make them _both_ decide that they were better off confessing everything to the FBI.”

“So you know who killed Charlotte?”  Chloe asked.

“Yes.  It seems that Charlotte Richards was _also_ investigating Pierce as The Sinnerman.  I imagine that he’s changed identity and is on another continent, by now.  _We_ get the job of taking down almost a quarter of this country’s police.”

“So many.  Are you sure of the numbers?” Chole asked.

“I told you, we have his files…”

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The part about Chloe's mom telling her that her birth was a miracle comes from a deleted scene on the DVD box set of season two.


	6. Aftershocks (Continued)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the FBI, Chloe and Lucifer have some friends round... What could go wrong?

 

 

“Where’s Chloe?”  Azrael asked, as she folded her wings and came in off the balcony.

“In the bathroom, showering again.  She feels dirty.”  Lucifer replied, sounding bitter and putting plates down across a large low table.  “The others should be here soon, then the food.”

“Whatya get?”

“Chinese and an assortment of pizzas.”

“Beers?”

“In the cooler, the other side of the table, feel free.”

The angel of death helped herself to a beer and sat down across from her brother.

“I need to talk to you to, while we’re still alone.  About Uriel.”

Lucifer groaned and buried his face in his hands.  His skin seemed to flicker between his usual appearance and his ‘Devil’ form.

“You did the _only_ thing that you could, Lu.  He was obsessed, he wouldn’t have quit until he’d destroyed Mother _and_ your Chloe.  He came to me, ranting about patterns.  Saying he’d thwarted your future _once_ \- stopped _her_ parents meeting - but that Father had intervened because of the child.”

“Child?”  Lucifer looked up at her, his eyes swirling with fire.

“Chloe’s child.  She’s going to be a doctor and then do… I don’t know… something to do with the space programme; ‘ _humanity’s colonization of other planets_ ’ Uriel said.  Father _had_ to make sure Chloe existed because of the child but her being a miracle made _your_ being together more _definite_.  Uriel wasn’t making a lot of sense; he said he’d made it worse but that he _should_ be able to end Chloe, now that her child was in the world.  He said that all _Chloe’s_ paths led to you and _he_ thought she was too good for you.”

“And his solution was to _kill_ her?”

“The same with Mother.  He kept seeing Father forgiving her, taking her back and all of _us_ paying the price.  When he asked for the blade, I told him no.  He left.  Like a dope, I thought that that was the end of it.”

“He said you were distracted…”

“A pissed off archangel stamps his foot and on the other side of the world…”

“A ‘natural’ disaster kills thousands.”  Lucifer finished for her.

“Yeah.  I’m glad the blade’s _gone_ , though.  Scary thing, I always hated having it around, so thanks for saving me from a shit load of responsibility.”

“So Chloe and I _still_ have no free will.”  Lucifer snarled.

“Father used to talk about you, after you…”

“Fell?”

“..were beaten and maimed by our siblings and thrown into Hell, yes.  He blamed Himself.  You have a spark of chaos in you, that _He_ put there before you were born - for the creativity, you know?  For lighting the stars, for the music.”

“I am as He _made_ me and He punished me for it.  Is that meant to make me _feel_ better?”

“It _made_ you unpredictable - even for Uriel - and it _meant_ that you were Father’s _first_ creation to have free will.  He found the result intriguing and tried it with the humans.”

“What’s your _point_ , Ray-ray?”  Lucifer asked, sounding exasperated.

“ _You_ were born with free will.  _Chloe_ was born with free will.  What you feel for each other is totally real.  Don’t screw it up, Lu.”

“It _can’t_ be real.”  He said, his Devil form gone again, “How _could_ she love _me_?  I mean, it’s obvious how _I_ can love _her_ , with her soul blinding us all with its brilliance, drowning me in purity; how can I _not_?  But, I don’t _deserve_ her.  No one does.”

“So I should live my life all _alone_ , should I?”  Chloe said, angrily, coming into the room.  “Grow old and die, surrounded by _cats_ because the man I _love,_ actually loves _me_ but doesn’t think he _deserves_ me.”

“How long…?”

“Long enough to hear that I have free will - which I already knew - and that you _still_ think I’m being _forced_ to love you.  What will it take, for you to believe me?”

“I…”

“I spent all last night cuddling up to your ‘Devil’ form - which, I’m told by Linda, usually drives people insane just from _seeing_ it - we spent all morning making love and you said you weren’t going to fight your feelings..”  Tears of anger were flowing, now.  “I _tried_ to move on, before - you made it _so_ obvious that you didn’t want me - so I _tried_.  You know, for a while I thought that you and… _him_ … were going to be a couple and it hurt so much that you… wanted… didn’t want… Then you start _really_ rubbing my nose in how _much_ you didn’t want me and he… he… _he_ …”

Lucifer wrapped his arms around her and Ray-ray handed her a brandy.  Chloe swallowed it in one gulp.

“That bastard was drugging _my_ food and probably _Trixie’s_ as well.”  She continued, her voice husky from the burn of the alcohol.  “Maze told me she went to kill him, the night of my stupid bachelorette party and when she found him, he was using Trixie as a human shield.”

“Maze was working _with_ him, for a time, I‘m not sure she can be trusted.  She was very angry with me.”  Lucifer said, quietly.

“Oh, I think she was telling the truth about _that_.  When _I_ got home, he and Trixie were on the couch together, she was asleep but she _should_ have been out, at a sleepover.  _He_ said he ‘stopped by to check on her’ and she wanted to come home.  Suddenly, breaking up with him, felt so _right_.”

“Because of Beatrice?”

“Partly; _mostly_ though…  It was when we were talking about the wedding, at work and _he_ said we had a nice bottle of single malt for the bar… and _I_ thought - literally my _first_ thought -  _‘We’re not inviting Lucifer.’_ coz _, obviously_ , if he’d planned on inviting _you_ , one bottle would be nowhere near enough.”

Ray-ray laughed.

“She’s got you there, Lu.”

“And it’s like, suddenly, the whole event felt like it was his way of getting one up on _you_.  Like, if you and I were just friends or colleagues, if we were nothing _more_ than that, you’d have been invited.  Suddenly it wasn’t about _me_ and him it was about _you_ and him.”

“You always were good at connecting the dots.”

“Not good _enough_.”

The elevator dinged and Dan and Ella came in.

***

Lucifer was obviously hungry.  With a pair of chopsticks in each hand, he was inhaling food with deft clicking motions that reminded Dan of a crab.

“I feel I must apologise for my brother,”  Ray-ray said,  “All the healing he’s had to do plays havoc with the metabolism.”

Lucifer paused his feeding frenzy.

“Missed breakfast.”  He said, tersely, then dived back in.

“Knock yourself out, man.”  Dan said with a shrug, he’s hardly going to argue with the _actual_ Devil; not when the table is literally _groaning_ with food.

“You hinted at stuff, in your text,”  Chloe said to Ella.  “And we told the Feds that we didn’t know where Pierce was…”

“We _don’t_ ,”  Lucifer paused again and looked around at the others.  “Marcus Pierce probably existed, _once_ but you can be sure that he was dead and somewhere he’d never be found, before Cain took his identity.”

“Cain’s _dust_.  Seriously, he just crumbled away.”  Ella said, sounding strangely impressed.  “Luckily there was a dust-buster, took four trips to shift all of him but… **he _trash_**.”

“You got _that_ right.”  Chloe said, venomously.  “The Feds said he’d been drugging my food.  Something to make me feel good and lower my inhibitions…”

“Oh, no… the lemon bars…”  Dan said.

Everyone looked at him.

“Charlotte and I… well it was kinda out of character for both of us… I thought it was because we’d been drinking…”

“What was?”  Ella asked.

“Doesn’t matter.”  He said, blushing at the memory.  “Just remind me that I shouldn’t eat any baked goods that aren’t meant for me.  Although, to be fair, I thought Lucifer brought them in…”

“And that makes it okay, how?”  Chloe asked.

“Well…”  Dan realized that Lucifer was staring at him now.  “Lucifer’s a dick, _obviously_ but he wouldn’t actually _hurt_ anyone…”

“Would, too.”  Lucifer muttered, going back to his food.

“Well, _yeah_ but you wouldn’t drug a person’s lemon bars… well, maybe with _pot_ but you’d be up front about it…”

“Very true, Daniel.  Thank you for the vote of confidence.”

“You always tell the truth, yeah?”  Dan asked and Lucifer nodded, then steeled himself for whatever question came next.

“Who _was_ Charlotte, really?”

“A lawyer who died in a hotel room at the same time as my _mother_ \- the Goddess of all creation - escaped Hell.  When you and she first… _met_ , she was my mother and using you to get to Chloe.  I think, though, that she developed a fondness for you.”  The way he said it, Lucifer _could_ have been saying his mother had a fondness for a certain brand of coffee.  “After she fell off the pier, Mother was gone and Charlotte - rather unexpectedly - came _back_ from Hell.  She didn’t remember _you_ because she quite literally wasn’t _here_ for those months.  What she felt for you since then, was completely genuine.”  Lucifer sounded sad.

“She had nightmares of Hell.”  Dan said.

“I know, she told me.  After I convinced her that it was all real, she tried to change her life so that she wouldn’t go back.  She succeeded.  Amenadiel took her to Heaven when she died.  _You’ll_ see her again.  I won’t.”  He finished, quietly.

“Ohh.  _Amenadiel_.”  Dan went pale.  “He’s your _actual_ brother?”

“Yes.  I’m _way_ better looking, obviously but we share the same parents.”

“So, he’s an angel?”

“Yes.  He _had_ fallen but he got his wings back the night that Charlotte died.  I found one of his feathers at the scene.”

“He wanted to take her, himself.  Even though she wasn’t Mother any more, _he_ still felt a mother/son bond with her and I think _she_ did too.  For both of you, Lu.”  Ray-ray said, gently.

“So _that’s_ why I haven’t been able to get him on the phone.”  Dan said.

“Yes, that would be why.”  Lucifer snorted at the thought of cell phones in Heaven.

“Oh.”  Chloe said, suddenly

“What?”  Lucifer turned to her.

“ _That’s_ why you always seemed so callous at crime scenes.  I used to think it was because you were…  that you had… but it’s because you _know_.  You _know_ that the person has gone somewhere else, that they’re too happy to worry about what happened or too miserable to care, depending where they went.  You only feel bad about people you _know_...”

Lucifer looked so stricken, that Chloe broke off and hugged him.  Ella came around the table and did the same.

“I’m so sorry I made you go to church.”  She said.

Ray-ray laughed, breaking the seriousness of the mood.

“Yeah, that was funny, Lu.  I really thought _that_ would be the deal you _broke_.”

“I don’t break deals.  Ask Cain.”

“Yeah, he bitched and moaned, all the way down.”  Ray-ray said, smirking.  “The best thing?  His brother went to Heaven, after his _second_ death.  Cain thought they’d get to fight again, instead he’s being tormented by the very people he corrupted while he was alive.  So _many_.  He has the biggest cell in Hell.  Oh, hey, that rhymes.”  She and Ella clinked beer bottles together and chanted ‘Biggest cell in Hell.’  three times fast.

“We used to do that when she was my imaginary friend, if one of us said something that rhymed.”  Ella explained, when she realized that the others were staring.

“Without the beers, though.  I was pretending to be a ghost… so I couldn’t… you know, pick things up..  Was that _weird_?”

Everyone around the table nodded.

“What did you mean Cain’s brother’s _second_ death?”  Chloe asked,  “That would be Abel, right?”

“He was in _Hell_?”  Ella asked.

“Yeah and then Lu thought it would be a good idea to get him out and install him in a recently dead person’s body and he wound up in Bree Garland’s body, by mistake.”  Ray-ray said, laughing.

“ _That_ explains a lot.”  Chloe said, laughing too.  “ _I_ thought she was brain damaged.  She came across like a sexually aggressive lesbian with a sheep fixation.” 

Dan was cracking up too, at this point. 

“ _Seriously_ ,”  Chloe continued,  “She kept offering me _sheep._ Her flock was my flock, which was kinda sweet but I haven’t even got a _garden_.”

That was it, they all lost it then, apart from Lucifer who was blushing with embarrassment.

“See Lu, you _need_ Chloe to keep you grounded, if you’d explained all this stuff to her, she could probably have told you that it was a bad idea.”

“It was actually _her_ idea.”  Lucifer said, dryly.

Chloe choked on her beer.

“I don’t remember _ever_ suggesting that you do _anything_ even a _little_ bit like _that_.  It’s not like I knew you were _capable_ of doing that.”

“No but something you said, gave me the idea.”

“Wow.  This is my life now.”  Chloe said, mopping up beer.

Abruptly Ray-ray dropped _her_ beer and made an odd hissing sound.

“What is it?”  Lucifer asked.

“Chloe, I don’t want to worry you but someone just died in your apartment.”  Ray-ray said.

 


	7. Aftershocks (Continued)

 

 

“ _Trixie!”_ Chloe gasped.  The sudden rush of adrenaline performing the quickest sober-up in history.

“No.  This soul went _down,_ your daughter would have…”

She broke off as her brother stood up and unfurled his wings.  He pulled Chloe into his arms.

“Bring Ms. Lopez, Ray-ray.  We’ll meet you there.”  He extended his arm towards Dan.  “Coming, Daniel?”

He drew Dan under one arm and Chloe under the other, held them tightly, flexed his wings and…

They were standing in the main living area of Chloe’s apartment.  Someone was screaming - terrible masculine screams - then the screams turned to muffled groans.

“Shut the _fuck_ up.”  Maze’s voice could be clearly heard, coming from the kitchen area.  Maze herself appeared, standing up from behind the kitchen counter.

“You got here fast.”  She said, inclining her head to the direction of her room.  “Other one’s in there.  I need a drink.”  She pulled a bottle of vodka from the freezer.

“Where’s Trixie?”  Chloe asked, franticly, staggering slightly from the trip.

“In her room, with Linda, phoning _you_.”

Chloe went to her.

“Who _are_ these men?”  Dan asked, having put his head round the open door to maze’s room and seen the dead man on the floor, a gun still in his hand.  The gun had a silencer.

“They _said_ they were FBI but then they pulled guns.  They were here to kill us.”

“Don’t let Trixie see.”  Dan said, looking at the blood on the kitchen floor.

“ _See_.   Huh, _she_ took out _that_ one.”  Maze said, proudly, indicating the screamer.

“What?”

“ _Yeah_.  She hid behind there with a filleting knife; he was so surprised, he dropped his gun.”  Maze laughed.

Lucifer was crouched by the man, looking into his eyes.  The man was face down on the floor and Lucifer was holding his head up by the hair.  The man stopped struggling; he was only hurting himself more, Maze‘s ’special’ handcuffs - the ones with metal spikes on the _inside_ \- weren’t going to _break_.  Lucifer pulled the dishcloth out of the man’s mouth.

“Tell me,”  He said, dangerously,  “What is it that you desire?”

“To please my father.”  The man moaned.

“And he is?”  Lucifer asked.

“The Sinnerman.”  He said it as though he was naming his God.  “He gave me a list, gave us _all_ a list.  _You’re_ on it but only if Decker’s with you, _her_ too but you _first -_ guess he wanted _her_ to watch.  The doctor, your brother, the bounty hunter, annoying forensics girl, the kid, _him_ ,”  He looked at Dan,  “ _All_ of you.”

Lucifer roughly stuffed the filthy cloth back into the man’s mouth.

“Can I kill him?”  Dan asked.

“Not if you want to ever see Charlotte again.”  Ray-ray said, from behind him.

“I’m probably going to Hell anyway.”  He told her.

“Not after the offer you made, last night.  Don’t spoil it.”

“So,”  Ella said, brightly.  “Dead guy in there, broken neck looks like.  Dude here probably _wishes_ he was dead…  Who is it safe to report this to?”

“The two agents we spoke to earlier seemed okay,”  Chloe said, coming out of Trixie’s room.  "I’ve got a card.”

“They were telling the truth but I should maybe talk to them, one on one, first.”  Lucifer said.

A loud banging on the front door made them all jump.

“Or not.”  Lucifer said, quietly.

“FBI, open up.”

There was a flurry of everyone looking at each other and wondering what would be the best course of action.

“They’ll probably break down the door if we don’t.”  Chloe said.

Maze and Lucifer stood side by side and Lucifer opened the door.

“You’re still alive, thank God.”  One of the agents said.  It was the same pair as earlier.

“No need to bring _him_ into this,”  Lucifer said,  “Are you here for your colleagues?”

“Damn, they’re here _already_?  Is anyone hurt?”

“Only them.  One permanently.”

“We were going through Pierce’s files and found a list of _feds_ that are loyal to him.  At this rate we’ll need to build new prisons specially.  We came to warn you, tell you your lives might be in danger.”

“Really, you _think_?”  Maze said, aggressively, twirling her knife.

“Probably not so much once word gets out that Pierce has fled and left everyone else in the shit.  I imagine then they‘ll _all_ be trying to run.”

The man on the kitchen floor started to struggle again, making incoherent sounds around the dishcloth.

“What’s _his_ story?”  The Fed took in the man’s slashed ankle.  “Achilles tendon?”  He sounded impressed.

“Kid got him.”  Maze said, smugly.  “She was getting a soda when they arrived and when they pulled their guns she ducked down, came up behind him and…”  She mimed a slashing motion with her knife, “..just like I taught her.”

“The _kid_?  Beatrice Espinoza’s only _nine_.”  The other FBI man said, consulting his notes.

“Your point?”  Maze asked, then continued.  “ _He_ screamed, dropped his gun and fell down, which distracted the _other_ one, so _I_ could deal with him.”

“You’re Mazikeen Smith.”  The agent said, with reverence in his voice,  “You are just… _awesome_ … the footage of you taking out those twelve men…”

“Hot, right?”  Maze said, licking her lips.

“Oh, yeah.” 

“Miss Smith,”  The other agent said, interrupting his colleague before things got out of hand.  “We’re hiring bounty hunters to help with the take down, naturally you’re top of our list…”

“I want the most challenging, the ones the others are afraid to go after.”  Maze demanded.

“Weren’t you wanting to go _home_ , Mazikeen?”  Lucifer asked, coldly.

“I’m rethinking that.”  She replied, without turning to face him.

“You can’t do _that_ , Lu; you _can’t_ take her back _now_ , it would be like… _murder_.”  Ray-ray said, speaking in the language of their childhood and sounding shocked.

“ _What?”_ Lucifer hissed, pulling his sister aside while Maze came to an agreement with the Feds.

“Haven’t you _looked_ at her lately, Lu?”  His sister whispered, urgently.

“I’ve been trying _not_ to.  The treacherous little beast has been working with _Cain_ , torturing and manipulating _me_ because I _wouldn’t_ take her back to Hell.  Just because he _turned_ on her, doesn‘t make what _she‘s_ done go away.”

“There’s a good _reason_ she’s messed up, I‘m not excusing what she may have _done_ but… can‘t you _see_ it?  She feels _love,_ maybe even is _in_ love.”

“She _can’t_ be, that would mean that she…”

“Has a soul, _yes_.”

“She’s a demon.”  He said, flatly, as though that made a complete nonsense of the soul idea.

“Don’t question my experience with souls, Lu.”  Ray-ray said, with equal conviction.  “If she were to die, right now, there’d have to be a _choice_.”

“You mean she could wind up in _Heaven_?”

“She hasn’t had it for very long and it was born from _love_ , like a child; do you think an infant soul would belong in _Hell_?”

“Don’t you two know it’s _rude_ to speak in a language no one else in the room can understand?”  One of the FBI agents said, pointedly.  “Not to mention suspicious when you’ve got a dead agent, through there.”  He indicated Maze’s room.

“Nothing to do with _that_ , I assure you,”  Lucifer said, smoothly, oozing charm.  “We were just…”

“Discussing where would be the safest place for our friends, until they’re no longer targets.”  Ray-ray put in, firmly.

“And how _better_ to keep it a secret?”  Lucifer said, smiling as though butter wouldn’t melt.

“You’re right, of course.  I don’t think that any _official_ safe-houses are going to be very _safe_ , not now we know how many people in law enforcement are actually dirty…  Is there somewhere that _you_ can take them, Mr. Morningstar?”

“Oh, I should think so.  How long for, do you think?”

“Wait a minute, Lucifer, don’t _we_ get a say?”  Chloe put in.

“Of course, although _I_ thought that you would be more than happy to keep your spawn away from this kind of unpleasantness.”

“It will be no good _any_ of you going back to work, until this is settled.”  The agent said, “We’d have to offer you round the clock protection and it just isn’t _practical_.  It’s best that you all take a month - call it a paid vacation - and go somewhere that you won’t be found.”

***

Questions had been asked and statements given, both the dead man and the injured man had been taken away; Maze had been more than happy to go with the FBI agents.  She had hugged Trixie and Linda goodbye with equal fervency, while Lucifer watched her every move as though she was something exotic that he had never seen before.  So she was.

Lucifer remembered how she had cried when she had told him she was always going to be just his consolation prize - why hadn’t he realized, _then_?  Had a demon _ever_ cried?  He couldn’t remember ever having seen it.  He had been on Earth too long.  Been amongst people who shed tears far too easily, making it so commonplace that he barely noticed any more.

She loved Trixie and Linda, that much was _obvious_ , had been for a while had _he_ not been too self absorbed to see.  She had cried for _him_ , she had tortured him and plotted his downfall; she must have felt love for _him_ , too, to want to hurt him _that_ much. 

 _‘Heav’n has no rage like love to hatred turn’d, Nor Hell a fury, like a woman scorn’d._ ’ 

The quote echoed in his head.  Three hundred and twenty years and the words were just as relevant _now_ as they were then, when he’d first heard them.  Back then, only the _first_ half of the quote had resonated with him - _he’d_ never scorned a woman in his _life_ \- but now he’d managed to incur the second half as well.  When all this was over, he would have to make it up to her, somehow.

He watched Maze leave with the two agents.  Chloe locked the door behind them and Lucifer and Ray-ray prepared to transport their friends to a safe place.


	8. Picking Up The Pieces  (Part One)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been a traumatic time for everyone. Now they're having a month of free vacation, in a safe, secret location. All except Linda who, of course, has to work...

 

 

 

Trixie

“Maze made it sound _cool_.”

“To _her_ it is, I think.”

“I didn’t think he’d _scream_.  I knew there’d be blood, Maze says you should try not to get it on you because people don’t like to see it… also… it’s evidence.  She got blood on Miss Alien one time.  Do you think she _killed_ someone?”

“I _know_ that she didn’t.”  ’ _Not on that **particular** occasion.’_   She thought.  “The blood came from a man that she was supposed to be bringing back but it turned out that he was innocent and someone _else_ shot him.  Maze gave him Miss Alien to hold, while he was recovering, after she stitched his wound.”

“That’s what she told _me_ , too.”

“And you thought it might not be true?”

“She’s not like Lucifer, _he_ never lies.”

“Well, you can ask _him_.  He was _with_ me when Maze called to ask for medical advice when she patched up the wound.  We _both_ saw.”

“Did _that_ man scream?”

“Not while _I_ was watching, no.”

“I didn’t think it would be so _loud_.”

“The man in the kitchen?”

“I didn’t know that _men_ screamed.”

“ _They_ feel pain, too.”

“He was going to _hurt_ us.”  She was crying, now.

“He was.”  She didn’t want to be the first to use the ‘K’ word.

“ _Why_?”

“A bad man told him to.”

“My mommy catches bad men, like Maze does.  Why didn’t they catch _that_ one?”

“They did but he’d already given the order.”

“ _Motherfucker_.”  She squeezed Miss Alien harder and looked up at Linda, her brown eyes full of tears, anger and remorse.  “Sorry.  Would you like some money for the jar?”

“I don’t have a jar.  While you’re in here, with me, you can say anything you like.  Nothing you say will make me cross with you and I will _never_ tell anyone else what we’ve talked about.”

“Maze says that bad people go to Hell when they die.”

“Yes.”

“ _How_ do they get punished?”

“I think it depends on what they’ve done.”

“No, I mean how do they _get_ punished, with Maze and Lucifer _up_ _here_?”

“Oh… well..”

“He’s The _Devil_ , he’s _here_ , who’s running _Hell_?”

“I think you’d have to ask _him_ , I don’t really know how that works.”

“You know it’s all _real_ , though, don’t you?  I mean _before_ we got flown here?  You _knew_?”

“Yes.”

“I _always_ knew.  I saw his eyes, that first day, when he frightened the girl that bullied me.”

“How did that make you feel?”

“Safe.”  She said, firmly.

“Not afraid?”

“No.  _I_ don’t do bad things.”

“You do have to be _very_ bad to go to Hell.”  Linda agreed. 

“Was hurting the bad man wrong?”

“Do _you_ think it was wrong?”

***

Ella

“…and I just feel so _stupid_.  Pierce was a serious rock star in law enforcement circles and I was _so_ happy when he came to _us_.  Departments he ran had great closure stats. y’know; I mean, don’t get me _wrong_ , Lucifer and Decker have a great solve rate but getting someone like _Pierce_ …  I was just so _excited_ and I brought him donuts and Decker’s like the sister I never had and I didn’t _mean_ to push them together but they were _sparking_ and it didn’t seem like Lucifer wanted her in _that_ way, especially after he got married, even it _was_ just for some sort of deal…”  She stopped to breathe, finally.

“Would you like some water?”  Linda asked, wondering if her 'Tribey' had ever had _any_ kind of therapy, before.

“Thanks.  D’yer know that he had files on _all_ of us?  He’d researched _before_ he came, he knew we were _good_ , probably knew that Lucifer was _real_ , knew that if _anyone_ could take him down… and he came _anyway_.  _Arrogant S.O.B._ Then he did all that stuff with the _fake_ Sinnerman and the cry-baby story: ‘The Sinnerman killed my brother’  _Bullshit_ , he killed his _own_ damn brother everyone _knows_ that, even people who’ve _not_ read the bible but I guess he was telling the truth in a _way_ because he _was_ The Sinnerman all _along_ and poor Lucifer _knew_ and no one would listen and no one ever believed him, even though he told the truth all the time, like Cassandra; different mythology, though, except Lucifer _isn’t_ a myth…”  She swigged some water from the bottle.  “Can you imagine how _old_ Lucifer must be?  ‘ _Let there be light.._ ’ and it was _Lucifer_ that made that happen - Lightbringer - he lit the stars he made our sun and one day it will expand and destroy this planet, this whole solar system and maybe _that’s_ what it means when it says that he’s involved in the end of days.  Not his _fault_ , though, nothing lasts _forever_ , not even _stars_ …”

Linda handed her another bottle of water.

“And _Cain_ , the first human to be _born_ , no wonder he turned to _dust_ when he died, by rights he should be a _fossil_ in a museum someplace and what was God _thinking_..?  Making him _immortal_ , what’s _that_ about?  Did he repent?  _No_ , he went right out and invented organized crime… I mean, no disrespect to the big guy but _man_ , really _bad_ decision.  The problem _now_ is that the FBI think that _Pierce_ is still alive and they’ll waste time _looking_ for him, even though they think he’s fled the country and they want to take down all the key players left behind, first…”  She glanced up at the clock.  “Ooh, time’s up.  Thanks for the advice, same time tomorrow?”

“Er…”

***


	9. Picking Up The Pieces (Part Two)

 

Chloe 

“I just feel so _stupid_.  My instincts were always pretty good, I just _knew_ that Malcolm Graham was dirty, even though no one else agreed with me; of course, it turned out that _Dan_ knew all about it too and let everyone think that I was deluded…  Maybe _that’s_ it, maybe I have a blind spot if I’m physically attracted…”

“You were attracted to Pierce right from the start?”

“Not from the start, no.  After all, new boss, I wanted to _impress_ him, of _course_ but with professionalism - show him how good I am at my job - not come across like a giggly schoolgirl with a crush.  The thing is, everything I did… _none_ of it was good enough.”

“In what way?”

“If I came up with a good idea, he’d give Lucifer the credit for it.  He kept referring to me as _Lucifer’s_ partner, when _he_ is actually _mine_.  He was the _civilian_ , after all.”

“And that mattered?”

“Well, _yes_.  I had to go through a _lot_ to be taken seriously, you know?  After they made the connection between me and ‘Hot Tub High School’, I had to work with men that had seen me naked and thought that I was just _playing_ at the job and probably an easy lay, as well.”

“That must have been hard.”

“The thing is, if I’d _stayed_ in acting, it _wouldn’t_ have mattered.  _None_ of my co-workers would have judged me, for it.  It’s not like it was a _porn_ film, it was a _comedy_ ; it wasn’t even anywhere _near_ as gross as the ‘American Pie’ movies but nooo, a bunch of macho cops think that if they’ve seen your boobs, then you must be a whore.  It‘s like they don‘t know the meaning of the word ‘acting‘.”

“And yet you stuck it out.”

“Yes.  I _knew_ I could do the job.  Properly, the way it _should_ be done; the way it’s portrayed on TV, not the stupid _gimmicky_ stuff but the part where they work _hard_ to get the person _responsible_ rather than pinning it on the first person they talk to.”

“So, you gave up acting, to join the police force, to make it more like TV?”  Linda asked, with a smile.

“Well, to be fair, I didn’t realize it _wouldn’t_ be like it is on TV, in _theory_ , anyhow.  My _dad_ always tried to get it right, why would anyone want to get a job like that, _wrong_?  The responsibility... “  She shook her head at the thought.  “ _Whatever_ , the thing with Pierce, as soon as you start with the male/female stuff they start losing respect for you.  Women had to _fight_ for equality in the work place, you do _not_ flirt at work - unless you’re Lucifer but that doesn’t count because he’s like it with everyone and no one seems to mind - we are all police _officers_ and we shouldn’t even _notice_ what sex we are…”

Linda handed her a box of tissues as she started to cry.

“So how come I end up getting _fucked_ against a wall in the evidence closet, like a _slut_?”  She sobbed.  “ _Everyone_ knew, I might as well have turned up to work _naked_ and screwed the whole damned _lot_ of them.”

“I think that you’re being overly harsh, the way _I_ understand it, there were mood altering drugs involved.”

“That’s _no_ excuse, I should have been strong enough to resist… and with _Pierce_ ,  I wouldn‘t even do _that_ with _Lucifer_ and I lo…”  She blushed and reached for more tissues.

“Pierce, well _Cain,_ is the villain here, _not_ you.”  Linda said, gently.  “He was alive when humanity was just getting started, he had plenty of time to learn manipulation skills.  He used a strategy that will have been honed to perfection over more years than we can comprehend.  You were his _target_ , he had a file on you so he _knew_ what would work.  Step one was to make you feel insecure by giving credit, for _your_ ideas, to Lucifer.  This also had the effect of driving a wedge between you and your partner.  The man was your _boss_ , so naturally you wanted his approval; you started to work for it and, I’m guessing, he threw you the occasional crumb just to keep you motivated…”

“Yeah, called me his ‘best detective’ before going back to treating me like dirt, again.”

“So, mostly undermining you, with just enough positive reinforcement to keep you trying harder.  Then you say that he and Lucifer were keeping secrets from you?”

“Yes.  I was convinced The Sinnerman was just an urban legend - the length of time the myth had been in existence made it unfeasible, _couldn’t_ be true - and I thought that if Lucifer kept going on about it, that it would reflect badly on me and ruin my career.”  She took more tissues to stem the fresh flow of tears.  “But it turns out that Pierce told Lucifer that it _was_ all _true_ and said _I_ was better off not knowing because The Sinnerman liked to kill family members and I had more to lose… and, of course, Lucifer went along with it.”

“So, Lt. Pierce, _your_ superior officer, told Lucifer that if _you_ investigated The Sinnerman, that it would put your daughter at risk.  Lucifer, _clearly_ didn’t want that to happen, so he kept it a secret.  Can you explain the part where _you_ ended up angry at _Lucifer_?”

“I…”

“Because I suspect that you _can’t,_ which proves, to _me_ at least, that you were being _played_ , by an expert, _both_ of you.”

“But Lucifer’s the _actual_ Devil…”

“And I think that _that_ made it easier for Pierce to manipulate him.  He doesn’t _expect_ to be manipulated by humans, he assumes that we’re not capable.”

“If only he’d _talked_ to me, told me what was going on, we could have worked together…”

“Are you seriously telling me that he _didn’t_?”  Linda asked,  “At _no_ time during the whole Sinnerman investigation…”

“When he took The Sinnerman…”  Chloe whispered, flushing red with shame.  “The man we _thought_ was The Sinnerman…  He poked his own eyes out with a pen, so that Lucifer couldn’t… do his eye thing.  Then there was a set up, with a kidnapped girl and we had to bust the man out and Pierce… was… very… _accommodating_ and Lucifer took… and then Pierce shot the suspect and said he was saving Lucifer’s life but…”

“But?”

“He tried to _tell_ me but I was _so_ angry with him for making me look bad… he tried to tell me that Pierce had killed the man in cold blood… I wouldn’t listen, I wouldn’t believe him… So he _stopped_ trying to tell me…”

“I think we should leave it there, for today and you should maybe consider coming in _with_ Lucifer for a joint session, as a couple.”

“I’ll talk to him about it, I think it will help…”

***


	10. Picking Up The Pieces (Part Three)

 

Dan

 

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“What _do_ you want to do?”

“I want to beat Pierce’s head in.  _No_ , I want to break every bone in his body, first.  Really make him suffer and _then_ beat his head in.”

“Because of Charlotte.”

“And I’m angry with _her_ for trying to take Pierce down and I’m angry with Amenadiel for being the _actual_ target, that night and I’m angry with God, for _existing_ and allowing things like this to happen…”

Linda slid a box of tissues across the table but otherwise gave no indication that she could see him crying.

“..And I’m angry with Chloe for not realizing who Pierce _was_ \- she had _Malcolm_ pegged almost immediately - what happened to her famous _instinct_?  I’m angry at Lucifer for _knowing_ and not telling us and I’m angry that he’s still _alive_ and him and Chloe will be happy again while _I’m_ going to be alone until I die…”  He swiped his hands over his eyes.  “I used to _wish_ … is wishing the same as praying?  I’ll ask Lucifer, sometime, _he’ll_ know… I used to wish that Chloe wasn’t as good at her job.  She was always showing me up, taking obvious open and shut cases, picking at them and then arresting some random person who turned out to be the killer.  She was doing it even _before_ she became a detective.”

“And you wished that she wouldn’t?”

“Because of her I had to open fire on a fellow officer, I had to cover it up and _then_ I had to put up with being married to the most unpopular person at the precinct.  She didn’t understand the _rules,_ so when the shit hit the fan _I_ had to pull away from her so it didn’t stick to me too.  So yeah, I wished she would get it wrong.  Then _Pierce_ came.  He treated me like dirt from the first day, called me a dirty cop, said I was expendable… next thing you know, Chloe’s all loved up with him and he’s got her acting the whore right there at _work_.  And I realize, I _wanted_ her to fail, I _wished_ for it and when she _did_ , I lost something _so_ precious…”

“You think that your _wishing_ caused what happened?”

“My mother always said ‘From your lips to His ears.’ whenever we speculated about something bad happening or wished for things and there’s the one about ‘Be careful what you wish for, you might get it.’ so maybe it’s _thing_.”

“Once, I would have been certain that it _wasn’t_.”  Linda said.

“Yeah, it’s a shock to find out it’s all for real.  I’m with Ella, having proof makes a mockery of faith.  Lucifer says that Pierce wanted to die - or thought he did - right up to the moment his curse was ended and then he changed his mind.  You know he was using drugs on Chloe?”

“Yes.”

“Charlotte and I got dosed by mistake.  We were out, later, getting a few drinks and she suggested we.. er.. make out in a closet, in a public place.  A _very_ public place.  That’s how much whatever it was messed with your judgement.  So, I’m in this closet, naked as the day I was born and the door opened and it wasn’t Charlotte.  So, this man’s threatening me with the police and I’m trying to think of a valid reason for being there, naked and Charlotte’s behind him…”  He laughs at the memory even as the tears flow again and he starts sobbing.  “It’s the kind of thing we’d have laughed about, _together_ , for the rest of our lives…  I _know_ she loved me, she was wearing my waffle and she put me in her Hell nightmares…”

***

 

 


	11. Picking Up The Pieces (Part Four)

 

Dan (after a short break)

“I’m sorry.”

“You have _nothing_ to apologise for.”

“I shouldn’t have just stormed out, that way, it was rude.”

“You’ve lost someone you care about, under _very_ difficult circumstances, you’re allowed to be upset.”

“She’s _not_ lost though, is she, she’s in _Heaven_.  Amenadiel took her there and if I can manage to be a good boy for the rest of my life, I can join her.”

“Does _knowing_ that, rather than just having to have faith, help?”

“Yes but _now_ I have to worry in case I get things wrong in my life and end up in _Hell_.  Although, Azrael told me I was starting with a clean slate after…”  He twisted his hands and looked embarrassed.

“After?”

“You may as well know, so long as Chloe and Lucifer don’t find out…”

“Everything is confidential.”

“The night that Pierce… Cain died, Lucifer was badly hurt and I thought Azrael had come for his soul… and.. I.. offered to go instead.”

“I didn’t realize that you and Lucifer were that close.”

“We’re not but I don’t hate him like I used to… we’re sort of friends and he’ll do _anything_ for his friends and Chloe loves him _so_ much - when she’s not being manipulated by sociopaths - and he seems to be a better father to Trixie than I _ever_ was… anyway, I was in a _really_ bad place, that night and…”

“You offered your life for his.”

“Yeah.  Anyway, clean slate; now I just have to _keep_ it clean…”

***

Lucifer and Chloe

She could hear them bickering before they got to her door, they quietened down as they got closer, so she couldn’t make out words.  She opened the door and let them in.

“So,”  She asked, once they were settled on her couch,  “What what you like to talk about?”

“Why would he…?”

“Why won’t she…?”

They both say, simultaneously.

“One at a time.  Chloe?”

“Why would he ask me to _marry_ him?  After what happened, before, why… just… _why_?”

“Lucifer?”

“Because I l _ove_ her.  I’ve loved her for _years_ and I don’t want to waste another second of our lives, I want to be _with_ her, I want to make vows and _commit_ ; why won’t she say _yes_?”

“Why couldn’t you have asked me _before_ , instead of trying to impress me with _stuff,_ while watching a psycho _brainwash_ me?”

“Because I couldn’t show you my Devil face, back then and showing you my wings would have given _quite_ the wrong idea.”

“Your _Devil_ face,”  She rolled her eyes,  “big _whoop_ , I’ve seen worse things at crime scenes - admittedly, not walking around and talking with the voice of the man I love - but to see burns that bad isn’t _scary_ … it’s… it makes me feel… makes me want to _help_.”

“But… you looked… _scared_.”

“I was shocked, yes but you didn’t give me any _time_ , you just _left_.”

“I couldn’t… _stay_ and see you… afraid… _revolted_ …”

“So you left.”

“I _had_ to leave, my wings were… I had to get…”

“Away from _me_ , so you could heal.”

“Unfortunately, yes.  When I’m hurt _that_ badly, I want you with me but I can’t heal when you’re close.”

“So _why_ would you ever want me near, if I can cause your death?”

“Because I _love_ you, why else?”

“How can you still want to be with me when I screwed up _so_ badly?” 

“We _both_ screwed up.  _I_ should have tried harder to convince you and _you_ should have trusted me.”

“Marriage, though; are you _sure_ you want that?”

“For the record, I _was_ going to ask you, _before_ but when I got to your place _He_ was grovelling at your feet with _His_ ring…”

“Oh Lucifer, I’m _so_ sorry.  I promise I’ll _always_ listen to you in future, no matter _how_ insane you sound.  And you can ask me to marry you, again, if you promise _not_ to grovel.”

“Isn’t grovelling _required_?”

“No.  It doesn’t suit you.”

“I can think of a similar position, that you might think _does_ suit me.”

“Would that be a position that might make me want to say ‘ _yes_ ’?”

“You have said ‘yes’ to me in the past, while I was in that position, now that you mention it…”  He said, smirking.

Linda stood up and opened the door.

“Go and get a room, go on, _shoo_.”  She said, waving them out.

When they had gone, she sighed and poured herself a drink.  She knew that they would be alright; even while they were bickering - sounding as though they were _already_ married - they hadn’t stopped holding hands. 

***

 

Maze

“You should relax more.”

“Mmm Hmm.”

“Seriously, you’re so _tense_.”

“Mmm.”

“You’re letting Lucifer and the others take advantage.  Mostly Lucifer.”

“Nooo, he’s paid me… mmmm.. double rates, for.. mmm… everyone’s therapy…”

“Now they’ve all gone home, it’s _your_ turn.”

“Mmmm… that’s sooo _good_ , what is it?”

“It’s a textured massage glove.  If you think it feels good now… just wait until you turn over and I do the front…”

 ***

 

 


	12. Consequences

 

 

“Maze, are you awake?”

“Yeah, I’ve been watching you sleep.”  Her voice was close and soft in the darkness.  “Er.. not in a creepy way.”

“I didn’t mean to fall asleep… not before…”  The guilt was evident in Linda’s voice.

“Doesn’t matter.  _You_ were the important one, I’m happy that you enjoyed it.”

“It was like nothing I’ve ever experienced before.”

“Have you never… with a woman?”

“Oh, _yeah_.  I didn’t trust men for a long time… after my uncle Edwin…”

Maze growled.

“It’s okay, he’s in Hell.  Getting, whatever… it is that he deserves and I don’t want to hear the details so _yes_ , a lot of female lovers but none of them were…”

“Demons?”

“Well, obviously _that_.  What I mean to say is that none of them made me _feel_ the way you do.  And I don’t just mean that textured glove - although… wow, never felt anything quite like _that_ before - I just hadn’t realized how I _feel_ about _you_.”

“That’s why this was about _you_ and not me, I wanted to make it up to you, the way I’ve _been_ … having actual _feelings_.”  She said the word as though it was a filthy concept.  “Lashing out at people that I… _care_ about.”

“Oh Maze.”  Linda kissed her, gently.

“I’ve been more and more messed up since Lucifer brought me to Earth and Azrael told me that I… that I have… that I can‘t…”  She was crying now.

“Maze?  Oh, _Maze_ , what’s wrong?”  Linda wraps her arms around her lover, worrying that Maze is somehow ill.  “Should I switch on the light?”

“ _No_.  I can’t tell you this shit if you’re _looking_ at me.”

“You can tell me _anything_ , you know that.”

“Yeah.  I think it started when Lucifer had me cut off his wings.  Before… I existed to protect him but I was _his_ to command and when he ordered me to… I didn’t _want_ to… it went against everything… I cried, Linda.  Tears, _me_.  Lucifer never saw; I was behind him, of course and by the time I’d finished… _cutting_ … it was all about him, _his_ pain and he was _so_ out of it…” 

Hot tears dropped on Linda’s face, before Maze had the chance to scrub her eyes with the back of her hand.

“Then I met The Little Human - my first friend, _just_ \- then you and I, became… friends… then Decker… Ben Rivers… even Charlotte and Dan…”

“And having friends is somehow… bad?”

“It is when some of them… love me.”

“ _Loving_ you is a bad thing?”

“I remember when I first felt it, Hallowe’en night, just after I moved in with Decker and The Little Human.  We were going trick-or-treating and she didn’t like her costume - some lame pink dress - she wanted to be president of Mars and we made the outfit, together, from stuff that was around the house.  It was actually _fun_ \- it wasn’t torturing, fighting or sex but it _was_ fun.  That was new to me.  Then, while we’re out, demanding candy and cash, The Little Human says she wishes _I_ had a costume and I… I don’t know why I did it but I showed her my true face.”

“ _Maze_.”

“I was nervous - _me_ \- but I shouldn’t have been because _she_ thought it was cool.  That’s when I felt it.  A feeling in my chest, like something stirring, like that movie where the cute alien bursts out of the guy’s chest.  Like that.  Is that a _thing_?  Does that really happen?  Coz some of the life forms on Earth do really gross things to each other, worse than in _Hell_.  Watching the discovery channel, makes me wonder what Lucifer’s dad was smoking, you know?”

“I do, yes.”  Linda says, thinking about her therapy sessions with Lucifer.  “Tell me more about the feeling.”

“This thing squirms around and it feels like it’s getting bigger and I’m thinking, ‘ _get it over with, burst out of my chest you little fucker and I’ll kill your ass_ ’.  Then I worry that it might get out and hurt The Little Human and I think that maybe I should cut my chest open and hunt it down…  Then I stop feeling it and I figure that it knows, so I leave it.  It’s not like I can cut myself open when there’s little humans around, Decker would _freak_.  So we finish gathering candy and go home, fall asleep in front of the TV.  I almost forgot about it.”

“And then?”  Linda tries to keep her voice neutral but inside she’s horrified by what her friend was considering doing to herself.

“It keeps getting bigger - when I’m with _friends_ \- and I’m getting used to it and it starts to feel… somehow… good… like it’s a part of me and I start to realize that it’s too _late_ to cut it out, that _I’d_ die, too.”  Her voice goes hollow with despair.  “Then I realize that it’s changing me and I try to change back but I can’t remember how I used to be, so I start to get angry and that helps a bit.”

“Oh, Maze…”

“I find out about you and Amenadiel and it makes me _so_ angry that he’s deceived you _again_ and angry that you tried to hide it from me - like you were _scared_ of me and it hurts, so I try to hurt you back.  Then I’m trying to hurt _everyone_ and Lucifer won’t take me home and I’m sure that the squirmy thing would die if I was back in Hell but I can’t tell Lucifer about it because somehow I know that it would hurt me more, if other people found out.”

“ _Does_ it hurt more?  Now that you’re telling _me_?”

“Not as much as it would if you could _see_ me.  I don’t think I could stand it.  Lucifer wouldn’t take me home, so I was going to leave L.A., get away from everyone and then Cain stopped me.  We hatched a plan and it was _wrong_ and cruel and I thought it was a good way to hurt the thing in me.  Then it all got too real and I realized that it was _me_ that was hurting and I tried to stop…”

“You mentioned Azrael, before.”

“Yeah.  _She’s_ the one who saw it.  When I finished hunting down Cain’s most dangerous people, I was set for a nice quiet vacation here, with you.  Then Azrael came to me; she said I had a right to know… that something like this had never happened before… that I might not be able to go home…”

“Whatever it is, I’m here for you, I promise.  You’re not just my friend, you’re my lover, Maze.  I chose _you_.  I _love_ you.  We’ll get through this.”

“She says that I have a _soul_.”

 

***

Chloe was crying.  Lucifer could hear her, through the locked bathroom door.  He sighed, he had known that this was coming.  The reason he had pushed so hard for marriage, laid his feelings out for _everyone_ to see and got it safely signed and sealed - a _fait accompli -_ was to get it _settled_ before Chloe found out about _this_.

“Are you alright in there?”  He asked, calmly, having first knocked on the door.

“Yeah,”  Came the weak response.

“Still sick?”

The door opened and she emerged; she threw herself into his arms.

“I’m _so_ sorry.”  She said, through her tears.  By way of explanation, she held up a pregnancy test, clearly showing positive.

“You have _nothing_ to be sorry for.”  He said, gently, kissing the top of her head.

“I wouldn’t have married you, if I’d known.”

“Why on earth not?”  He asked, hoping she would never find out that their hasty wedding had been for _this_ very reason.  “You still love me, don’t you?”  Doubt made his voice waver.

“ _Always_ , don’t _ever_ think that I don’t but to be carrying another man’s child… _was_ he even a _man_?”

“First born among the humans, so, yes.”

“Will it be evil?”

“Oh, _Darling_ ,”  He said, taking her in his arms, “It’s a _baby,_ they don’t _arrive_ broken.”

“What if he somehow…”

“Escapes Hell by putting his soul in your baby?  Shouldn’t be possible but if you want, I can pop down and check on him, make sure he‘s still busy in the biggest cell in Hell.”  He smirked at the thought.

“Yeah, course, you can _do_ that… I was forgetting.”  She muttered, under her breath.  “What’s worrying me more is what people will _think_.  They already think I’m a slut for the closet incident, now they’ll despise me for making _you_ bring up another man’s child.”

“Oh, like they’d care what you do to _me_ , it’s not like _I’m_ a cop.“

“No but you are _male_ and for the ‘PD Boy’s Club’ that’s probably _enough_.  When Palmetto first kicked off, I actually got _hate_ mail telling me off for how much I was embarrassing _Dan_.  And we were _separated_.”

“Anonymous?”  Lucifer had gone very still.

“Of _course_ anonymous.”

“How did you even _function_ in your job, knowing that you couldn’t _trust_ anyone?”  He hadn’t realized, at the time, how bad it had been for her.

“Alone, until _you_.  I _had_ thought I could trust Dan but I was even wrong about _that_.  And so _spectacularly_ wrong about..  _him._ ”

“You know that you don’t _have_ to go back, don’t you?  They’ll only put you behind a desk, once they find out about the new spawn - which will be universally acknowledged to be mine, incidentally, I _am_ your husband, after all - and it’s not like we need the money, what’s mine is yours.”

“You know, you’re right; I certainly feel too sick to work, right now and I know that Trixie will enjoy having me home for a change.  Let’s get some more practice at being a family.”

***

 

 


	13. Consequences (Continued)

 

They had restrained him with Hell forged chains.  He knelt, now, on cold concrete, his naked chest pressed against a thick, solid ’T’ shaped metal frame, his wrists secured at either end of the cross beam, stretched just a tiny bit too far, putting a constant strain on his muscles.  His chin rested on the top of the frame, the hard edge pressing into his neck. 

They had dug into his back with knives until his wings had unfurled, then they had cut them off.  Cain was now displaying them as a trophy above the sleeping area, where they glowed, faintly.  Lucifer was still weak from blood loss and could barely breathe around the ball gag that had been roughly shoved into his mouth.  His wings had not grown back. 

He had flicked his eyes around the ‘room’, in surprise, that first day - a living area transplanted into an industrial building - surely the FBI had closed this place down?  He remembered seeing it, the backdrop to Maze’s epic fight, on security footage; had Cain and his people returned after the Feds had left?  Good cover, he supposed, why search the same place twice?

He should have known that the bastard wasn’t dead - that stuff with the dust must have been a smokescreen - and now he and Chloe were paying the price.

Chloe.  _His_ Detective, _his_ Chloe, Dad’s miracle; on her back on the bed, staring up at the wings with dead eyes as Cain violated her, yet again.

She had struggled, fought, to begin with but he had his _mark_ back, now - she could have _killed_ him and left no permanent damage - an unknown amount of time later, she was resigned and took each new punishment without reaction.  It seemed that Cain had broken her.

She was kept naked all the time, Cain didn’t seem to care if his ‘employees’ saw her body _or_ her bruises both old and new.  She had reached a point where, it seemed, _she_ didn’t care either; as though all of her focus was _inside_ herself.  At least she wouldn’t be killed.  They needed _her_ alive so they could keep _him_ weak but knowing this did nothing to lessen Lucifer‘s rage. 

He had reached out, in prayer, for rescue, to _anyone_ who would listen, including his father…  There had been no answers.

He had no need of food, water or bathroom breaks, so he stayed chained, the cramp in his muscles almost intolerable, the ache of his jaw, from the ball gag, like _fire_. 

A nameless member of Cain’s gang commenced today’s thrashing - Lucifer was assuming it was one a day but, with no natural light and no visible clocks, it was impossible to tell - the metal hooks of the flogger pulled bits of flesh from him.  The pain across a back that still wasn’t healed from the previous beating was enough to tip the delicate balance of consciousness that he’d been maintaining.

He drifted into the dark.

***

Birdsong. 

An impression of dappled greenish shade against his eyelids.

Air so clean that it almost intoxicated him.

Gentle hands stroking his hair…

He opened his eyes all the way.  He was on his back in the lush grass, his head pillowed in a woman’s lap.

“ _Eve_?” 

“This is all your fault, you know.”  She said, almost kindly,  “You should never have agreed to kill our son.”

“He seemed to want it so _badly_ and, of course, _I_ wanted to annoy dear old Dad.”

“He had been walking _away_.  Think of the consequences that could have been avoided if you had just _let_ him.”  She said, ignoring his half-hearted justification.

“Do you think I don’t _know_?”  He said, his voice breaking on the words.

“You always were such _delicious_ trouble.”  She said, leaning down and kissing him, chastely, on the forehead.  “Getting us all expelled from _here_.” 

“We _seem_ to have got back in.”  He said, looking around.

“We’re both _dreaming_ of Eden, that‘s all.”

“That damned tree was a trap, _you_ know that; sooner or later _one_ of you would have…”

“I think I would have preferred _later_ ; after all, the knowledge did our son no good.”

“Where’s _Adam_ , these days?”

“I have no desire to speak of _him_ , I am here to tell _you_ a story.”

“Is it a good story?”  He asked, relaxing again and closing his eyes.

“It’s a _true_ story.”

“Promise?  I’ll know if it isn’t.”

“I promise.  Once, long ago, there was a lonely king; _so_ lonely that he married the first potential queen that he met.  Together, they had many children, all skilled and obedient, save for one.  The king had realized that, for some tasks, skill and obedience weren’t enough and so _one_ of his children was gifted with an extra spark.  That young prince was hailed as the brightest and most beautiful.”

“Sounds lovely…”  Lucifer murmured.

“He was but he was also _different_.  Some of his siblings loved him _more_ for his differences but most of them were afraid and the fear turned to hatred.”

“ _That_ sounds familiar.”  Lucifer grumbled.

“Now, as I’ve said, the king married the first queen he met but there were other kings and queens in existence.  One such couple approached the parents of the beautiful prince to discuss a match with their daughter.  Like the prince, the princess valued honesty and justice but, where the prince was rash and impulsive, the princess was calm and rational and her parents felt that the marriage would bring balance to the pair.”

“Sounds perfect.”

“But the prince’s parents said no.  The king said no because he knew his son valued free will and would not want an arranged marriage.  The queen said no because she feared that this perfectly balanced couple would be too powerful, that _together_ they would be stronger and a threat.  Better to keep them apart.”

“What did the prince say?”

“The prince and princess were never told.  Time passed and the prince acquired his own kingdom to rule but he wasn’t happy.  The princess, too, was sad to be alone, so her parents approached the king once more.  The king was also alone, now, having had a falling out with his queen and he understood that the prince and princess might be happier as a couple.  However, he still wanted to respect his son’s freedom of choice.”

“Wish _my_ Dad had been like that.”

“Now, another of the king’s sons had the gift of future-sight and _he_ had seen a future that might impact favourably on his beautiful brother and, in his jealousy and hatred, he altered it, as he had done many times before.  Changing the future, though, is fraught with difficulty - cut one thread and many more unravel - and the king realized that _this_ change _must_ be undone.  So, after talking with the parents of the princess, he sent his most obedient son to undo the wrong that had been done by his other boy.  Unbeknownst to the _obedient_ son, the spirit of the princess went too.  The king thought that if the prince and princess could meet as strangers, they may grow to love each other _naturally_ , without feeling that they were being coerced.”

“Good plan.  Did it work?”

“After a fashion.  The prince and princess met.  The princess had agreed to start her life from the beginning again and had forgotten who she was but she was still a perfect balance for the prince.  Being rash and impulsive, he fell in love with her almost immediately and bestowed subtle favours upon her.  The princess, though was more cautious with her heart and when she realized that she loved the prince, she didn’t tell him.”

“Why not?”

“They were friends and she feared that if he knew of her love and didn’t feel the same way, that their friendship would be spoiled.”

“But when _he_ told _her_ …”

“He didn’t…”

“Mr Rash and Impulsive?  Why _wouldn’t_ he?”

“In the years that he’d been ruling his kingdom, his own jealous siblings had spread lies about him, painting him as evil and vile.  The lies had been spread so thickly and for so long that the prince had begun to believe them himself and so, when he felt love for the princess, he believed himself unworthy of her, indeed, unworthy of _anyone’s_ love.  Then, when she tentatively revealed some of _her_ love for him, he believed that she was being forced, by someone more powerful and so, he rejected her.”

“I don’t think I like this story…”

“It doesn’t matter if you _like_ it, we’re coming to the _important_ part, the part that you have to _remember_ ; the princess…”

***

...Freezing cold water was dashed into his face, jerking him painfully back to his punishment.

“Wake up.  You don’t get to escape _that_ way.”

Cain was standing in front of him, an empty bucket in his hand.  Lucifer looked up at him, blinking water out of his eyes and trying not to breathe it up his nose.

‘ _What was **that** all about?’  _ He wondered.  ‘ _A coping strategy?  Dreaming of Eve and Eden and fairy tales about princesses…’_

“Pay attention, Morningstar, it’s decision day again.”

_No_.  As far as Lucifer was concerned, ‘decision day’ was the worst torture that anyone had _ever_ come up with.  Cain dragging Chloe to where Lucifer would have a good view of her and asking if she should be allowed to live.  Gleefully assuring him that, if he decided to let Cain kill her, her death would be swift and merciful and then Lucifer would be granted his freedom.

She was on her knees before him, now.  He tried to meet her eyes but she gazed beyond him, as if at something more interesting over his shoulder.  He took in the bruises, the split lip, the wrinkles and the grey hair.  _How_ long had they been held captive here?

He couldn’t tell.  He had been losing time but _surely_ they hadn’t been here for _years_ , had they?  He flashed back to the first ‘decision day’.  They had still hoped for rescue, then and Chloe had met his eyes and silently poured love into them.  Silently.  She had not been permitted to speak and the threat of a demon blade at _his_ throat had ensured that she kept that rule.

Now, he realized, she was indifferent.

Cain was twisting his hand in Chloe’s hair and smirking smugly down at Lucifer.

“Blink your eyes twice, if you want this finished…”  He began his usual spiel, then broke off as a light flared somewhere behind Lucifer and Cain’s face twisted in horror.  Chloe’s eyes widened and she briefly snapped them back to Lucifer’s with a look of complete bafflement and then she winked out of existence.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, please, I’m so sorry…”  Cain was on his knees, a terrified gibbering wreck and Lucifer found himself face down in thick grey ash as his restraints and, indeed, everything else in Cain’s former hideout, ceased to be.

The empty chamber was _so_ brightly lit, now; heat and light soothing against Lucifer’s back, filling him with a feeling of love and homecoming…

Cain was _shrieking_ , covering his face against the dazzling brightness and, finally, sickeningly, clawing out his own eyes, so as not to see…

***

 

 


	14. Consequences (Continued)

 

Twenty minutes earlier, in a private clinic in L.A.

Chloe was hooked up to all the monitors; rhythmic bleeping telling everyone in the room that her heart was beating, a trifle fast, if anything.  Another machine monitored the health of her unborn child.  An insanely well paid doctor stood ready to intubate her as soon as she took her last breath.  The ventilator could, if necessary, keep her body alive, until her child was ready to be safely delivered.

Ella and Linda sat, supportively by her bedside, well out of the doctor‘s way.  Azrael was pacing.

“Lu’s gonna to _kill_ me.”  She said, chewing her lip, nervously.  “I mean that _literally_.  If I screw this up…”

“Don’t screw it up, _please_.”  Ella said, at the same time as Chloe said:

“You won’t screw up.  You’ve been doing this a long time.  You’re _good_ at it.  Aren’t you?”

“Well, yeah…”

“I _have_ to get him back and _you_ can’t do it.”

“I can only _take_ souls there, I can’t bring them out, only _he_ can do that, so if for any reason he _can’t_ …”

“I’ll be trapped.  And _he‘ll_ be trapped.”

“He’s only been gone a few days… maybe he‘ll manage to…”

“Decades for _him_.  I can’t just _leave_ him there.”

“Your soul’s natural inclination will be to go to Heaven, I’m going to have to force you… _drag_ you down to Hell.”

“What are you telling me, that it’ll _hurt_?”

“I’m telling you that I don’t _know_ , I’ve never done this before.  Okay?  Do you _get_ that?  I don’t really want to have to learn _how_ to do this, by screwing it up with the soul of the person my brother loves more than anything else in the universe.”

“Just take me to him.  I’ll figure out the rest.  It’s _my_ fault he’s down there.”  Chloe said, flashing back to the last time she saw Lucifer, beautiful and confident as he unfurled his wings.  “If I hadn’t wanted him to check on Cain…”

“No, _that_ was a completely understandable reaction.”  Azrael said, “A soul _that_ old and _that_ devious, who _really_ knows what he’d be capable of?  It’s sensible to want to be sure.”

“It’s because of me that Lucifer _went_ , so _I’m_ going to have to get him back.  What do I need to do?”

“Just… try not to fight me.”  Azrael said, taking a deep breath.  She could do this.  She _could_.

She walked calmly to the bed and took Chloe’s hand, Chloe gave her a reassuring smile and Azrael carefully took hold of her soul.  Chloe shivered, Azrael’s hand had been warm and then, abruptly, it was the coldest thing she had ever touched.  She forced herself to relax…

She was standing by Azrael’s side, now, with no memory of leaving the bed.  Azrael was staring at her with wide eyes.

“Well, _shit_.”  She said.  Her tone of voice - shocked beyond belief - was in no way reassuring.

“What do you mean, Ray-ray?  _Shit_?  Does that mean it’s gone wrong?”  Ella was horrified.

“No… I think it means that it’s going to be easier.”  Azrael said, uncertainty colouring her voice.

Chloe could hear the others talking but it seemed too far away to be bothered with, she was looking down at her body, now.  The doctor had done his thing, then left and the machines were breathing for her but what had got her attention was the glowing ball of light in her body’s abdomen. 

Her child.  Her and _Lucifer’s_ child.  _Not_ Cain‘s.  She could see that, now.  The beautiful, sparkling light that was _their_ baby’s soul, had tiny, perfectly formed wings.  She was Lucifer’s, all along.

Azrael tugged at her hand.

“Isn’t she beautiful?”  Chloe said, unable to tear her eyes away.  “And she’s _Lucifer’s_.”

“ _I_ can’t see her.”  Azrael said,  “ _You_ can only see her soul because you’re out of your body.  Oh and maybe because _your_ soul isn’t even a little bit _human_.”

“What?”

“You’re definitely _not_ family.  Of course there _are_ other Gods out there, it’s a big universe.  I’ll bet you’re one of the Greek ones, _they_ gave Father quite a run for his money, back in the day.  That _Zeus_.”  She rolled her eyes,  “He _really_ got around.  Come to think of it, _he_ wanted to marry one of his litter to… Ohh.  You’re _Eunomia…”_

“Huh?”

“Daughter of Zeus, Goddess of law and legislation.  Oh and springtime plant growth, an odd combination but it ties in nicely with Chloe.  You got a middle name?”

“Jane.  Lucifer says it’s boring.”

“It’s _not_ , it  means that your parents probably knew… something.  Which one of them wanted you?”

“You can take me to get Lucifer, now.”  Chloe said, coldly and Azrael realized what she had said.

“Sorry, sorry, I’m such a jerk when I’m nervous.  C’mon, let’s get you to Hell.”

She unfurled her wings, pulled Chloe’s soul in close and they vanished.

“At least when we did this with _Lucifer_ , Maze and I had alcohol.”  Linda said.

“What the _what_?”

“No one told you that story?”

“ _No_.  Tell me, it’ll help pass the time.”  Ella said, glad of the distraction.

***

Azrael had no trouble taking Chloe to Hell, her soul, it seemed, felt no compulsion to go to Heaven.  Mostly, it seemed compelled to go to Lucifer.

She and Azrael were standing outside the door to Cain’s cell.  A viewing window appeared in the door as Chloe got closer.

“Did you want to look before you went in?”  Azrael asked her.

“Yeah.  I was just thinking that I didn’t want to go in blind.”

“Hell is obviously responding to your needs.”

“I’m really a… I’m not… _human_?”

“Your _body_ is.  The child of your human parents but your soul… is celestial.  Daughter to two of, what my Father would call, _minor_ deities.  The ancient Greeks would have called them Zeus and Themis.  I think that this is my brother, Uriel’s fault or, rather, I think he _did_ something which provided the opportunity...”

“You’ll have to explain later.  I need to get Lucifer.”

Chloe peered through the window at the ‘room’ within.  It looked like Cain’s last hideout, the one that Maze had had her epic fight in.  She gasped when she saw what was going on.

Lucifer, down on his knees, chained, his back cut to ribbons.  Cain, standing in front of him holding a naked woman by her hair.  The woman had clearly been tortured for a long time - her body bruised and scarred, her gray hair a tangled matted mess - her eyes, when Cain jerked her head up, unfocussed and traumatised.  Her face… an older version of Chloe’s own.

“Oh, Lucifer.”  Chloe whispered.  “Oh my love, you don’t deserve _this_.”  To Azrael she said, “Guard this door.  Don’t let Cain out of there.”

“Never.”

Chloe opened the door and strode in, righteous rage making her soul flare with golden brilliance.  The fake Chloe stared at her with shock before vanishing, along with everything else not-real in the room.  An unrestrained Lucifer fell forward into the ash.

Cain was babbling about being sorry and for a few terrible seconds Chloe turned her gaze on _him_ , meeting his eyes.  In that brief moment, Cain saw it _all_ , every single bad thing that he had done over his unnaturally long existence.  The few acts of good, through his years in law enforcement - acts he‘d polished in his memory until they dazzled out anything bad - were now _crushed_ into oblivion by the _evil_ that he had been responsible for.  The lives he had ruined, the deaths, the brainwashed children that _he_ had corrupted, growing up into his service.  How clever he had thought himself - The Sinnerman - already in existence before, maybe even the _inspiration_ for other more famous crime families.

Guilt.

A new feeling, for him and one which he found he couldn’t endure but also, couldn’t put aside.  Somewhere, someone was screeching in unrelieved agony and a part of him knew that it was him and that it was _truly_ deserved, he had _earned_ it.  He had tricked and manipulated the innocent into having feelings for him and, somehow, had believed that it was an acceptable thing to do.  Justified, all of it, if it got _him_ what _he_ wanted because _he_ was the only person that _mattered_ on this miserable planet.

He had torn his eyes from their sockets but he could still see the things he had done; of _course_ he could, he didn’t _need_ eyes to see his own memories…

***

 


	15. Reunions

 

Lucifer was still face down in the ash - Chloe had taken only seconds to reduce Cain to the proper frame of mind for his eternity in Hell - so she knelt beside him, gently running her hand over his back.  He moaned, softly, from the pleasure of her touch and the relief of his back healing.  He turned over to face her.

“Chloe?  No, Chloe, you _can’t_ be here.”  Tears of despair welling up in his eyes.

“I’m not _stopping_ , I just came to get _you_ out.  C’mon, up you get.” 

“How did you get here?”  He asked, scrambling to his feet and looking in fascination at Cain’s pathetic form.

“Azrael brought me, she’s waiting out in the corridor, she’s got some things to talk to us about.”

“Would that have anything to do with your soul being celestial?”  Lucifer says, gazing at her golden light.

“I guess.  Azrael says we’re not related, so that’s okay.”

“Not my _first_ concern.”

“It _should_ be,”  She said, guiding him through the door and slamming it shut on Cain.  “Because we made a baby.”

Lucifer froze.  _That_ was what he’d forgotten, the Chloe being tortured by Cain hadn’t been _pregnant_.  How had he _not_ remembered that?  It had been the very reason he had gone to check up on Cain.

“How did you die?  How many years has it been?  If you’re dead, does that mean the baby was born?”  He sounds so incredibly sad.

“ _No_ , you’ve been gone less than a week.  I’m not _dead_ , either, I’m in a private clinic on a ventilator…. Well, my body is.  I saw our baby’s soul, she has wings, she’s _yours_.”

“You two need to get back to Earth, fast.”  Azrael says, taking Lucifer’s arm.  “ _You’ll_ have to fly Chloe, Lu, _I_ can’t pull souls out of here.”

“Did you _drag_ her down here?”  Lucifer asks, his voice dangerously low.

“ _No_ , you dope, her soul came straight to _you_.”

***

The room that housed Chloe’s body wasn’t how she had left it.  Time seemed to have frozen and three of Chloe’s parents had shown up, along with one of Lucifer’s.

“Welcome back, Son.”  The man that Chloe knew as Earl Johnson said, to Lucifer.  “Daughter-in-law.”  He added, nodding at Chloe’s soul.  Chloe barely noticed him, all _she_ could see was the soul of John Decker.

“Hey, Monkey.”  He said, as Chloe threw herself into his arms.

“I’ve missed you so much.”  She sobbed into his chest.  He looked exactly as he had the last time she had seen him alive and felt so solid and _real_.

“I’m so sorry that I had to leave you.”

“It wasn’t _your_ fault.”

“In a way, it _was_.  I was shot because I wouldn’t back off when I was ‘advised’ to, then, while I was… dying… I was shown two different futures, what would happen if I lived and what would happen if I died…  I _chose_ to die.”

“Why would you _do_ that?”  Chloe was horrified and everyone else in the room was silent, waiting to hear how this would play out.

“You were my miracle and you were _born_ for law enforcement; if I had _lived_ , you would have carried on acting.  Eventually, you _would_ have found the path that you’re on now but in those wasted years so many injustices would have gone unnoticed.  Think about all those ‘open and shut’ cases that _you_ worked that were actually anything but.  If not for _you_ , so many innocent people would be behind bars and so many guilty ones would be free to carry on with their crimes.”

“So you _chose_ to die, to leave _me_ and _Mom,_ just to help me with my _career_ choice?”  Chloe was furious.

“It seemed like a good idea at the time.”  Her dad said, with a shrug.  He desperately hoped that she wouldn’t realize he was holding something back.**

“And who offered you this _choice_?”  She demanded.  Earl Johnson flinched.

“That would be your Father-in-law.  _Great_ choice of husband, by the way.  The Devil himself.  I always knew that you were different - had a destiny - but I admit that I didn’t see _that_ coming.”

“They are well matched, they bring balance to one another.”  A column of golden light resolved itself into a bearded man in a white robe.  The robe left little to the imagination and the man was as comfortable with his near nudity as Lucifer always seemed to be with his.  Chloe rolled her eyes, forgetting that, here on Earth, she too was just golden light, with a facsimile of clothing.

“And you are?”  She asked.

“For convenience, you can call me Zeus, I am the father of your soul and you are or _were_ Eunomia.”

Lucifer closed his eyes, remembering a certain dream he had had, while he had been in Hell.  The story that Eve had told him.  The _true_ story.  Chloe was the princess and _he_ was the prince, the one who’s father hadn’t wanted to take his free will.

“I’m Chloe and I only remember being human.”

“Chloe, named for the flowering of springtime, Jane for the grace bestowed by your husband’s father and Decker for the human who so wanted the child that his wife couldn’t give him.  My Eunomia was unhappy alone and so, agreed to be born anew, among the humans.”  The other column of light spoke, becoming a beautiful woman, dark hair cascading down her back and, when Chloe met her eyes, she saw gentle wisdom looking back.  A deep instinct inside her told Chloe that this _was_ her mother.

Hugging her felt strange, she was all angles and hard muscle - more so even than Maze - and, like Zeus, was barely covered by her robes.  Chloe was fairly certain that if Lucifer hadn’t been honouring his marriage vows that he would, right now, be staring at these beings and thinking ‘ _threesome_ ’.  Instead, he and Earl Johnson (God?) were standing at _her_ bedside and seemed to be discussing the unborn child.

“Go and meet your in-laws, son.”  Lucifer’s Dad was urging him, now and, like Chloe, he greeted John Decker first.

To his surprise, the man hugged him.  The surprise must have shown on his face because John Decker released him and smiled.

“Thank you _so_ much for taking care of my girls, Lucifer.  I’ve been watching, since you came into their lives and, at first, I didn’t know _what_ to think - Devil thing aside - there was the drinking, the drugs, the casual sex and all the family _baggage_ … but, _then_ you _loved_ them, _both_ of them, you even _died_ for them… how could I wish for better?  I’m proud to call you my son-in-law.”  He told a stunned Lucifer.

“You’ve _seen_ Trixie?”  Chloe asked, coming back, a look of happy shock on her face,  “I so wished you had lived to meet her.”

“I’ll meet her, someday but in the meantime, I’m _so_ proud.”

Lucifer’s father beckoned them over to Chloe’s bedside.

Zeus and Themis took the opportunity to talk to Lucifer.

“We knew that you would be right for each other.”  Zeus said.  “but your parents had to be awkward about it.”

“So I’ve been led to believe.”  Lucifer said, looking at Zeus as if he were an attractive bug.

“You couldn’t find out the truth while your mother was still around.”  Themis said, gently.  “She was a danger to you both.  Your solution to the _problem_ of her was very… forgiving.”

“Yes, well, I couldn’t take her back to Hell and I couldn’t let her start a war in Heaven…”

“And you couldn’t _kill_ her, the way she wanted to kill you.”  Zeus put in.

“You’ve got _that_ the wrong way around…”

“No, Son, he has the right of it.  _I_ sent you to Hell, to protect you from your mother.”  His father said, coming over.  “If you had seen her on your balcony, after she told you that _lie_ , smirkin’ up at me…  Well, you’d have known the truth.”

“You could have…”

“Could have _what_ , Son?  She feared your powers as soon as she saw you light the stars.  She feared the notion of you joinin’ with another soul who would increase those powers tenfold.  Had you discovered the truth about her while you were weakened, without your wings, she would have _finished_ you.”

“What do you mean, ‘increased my powers tenfold’?”

“Oh, I _know_ you felt it.  When Chloe kissed you and you were convinced that what was between you was real?  You felt so _strong_ , so…”

“ _Invincible_.  I remember, then I found out that you…”

“Had.. ah.. _assisted_ in Chloe’s creation?  That _had_ to be done because of your brother’s meddlin’.  Of all of my children, _Uriel_ hated and feared you the most.  You confounded his gift and so he became obsessed with manipulatin’ events around you, to your detriment.  Then, his messin’ allowed John Decker to marry an infertile woman and _Beatrice_ Decker ceased to be a possibility.  I couldn’t have that; for the sake of humanity, Beatrice Decker _must_ exist.”

“So Chloe had to exist…”

“So, _we_ took the opportunity to send _our_ child - _your_ promised bride - to you.”  Zeus said, his arm around Themis.  “Now, if no one minds,”  He continued, looking pointedly at Lucifer’s father,  “I would like to visit with my _other_ daughter.”  He gestured towards Ella Lopez,  “Euphrosyne.”

“Embodiment of joy.”  Lucifer said, “I should have known.  _Her_ parents weren’t infertile, though, what miracle did _they_ wish for?  Or did _you_ take advantage of her mother?”  He said, looking accusingly at Zeus.

“Are all the things mankind say of _you_ , truth then, Lightbringer, that you believe those things of me?  I was worshipped in a time when man wished his _Gods_ to be all the things man _couldn‘t_ be, with impunity.  To answer your other question, Ella Lopez‘s mother wished for the miracle of a _daughter_ and so, favourite half-sisters are reunited.”

“And is there a soul mate for _her_ amongst my brothers?”    Lucifer asked, cynically.  “She always seemed to like Amenadiel.”

“No, Lightbringer.  She is, however, perfectly matched with your sister, Azrael.”

“Of course she is.”  Lucifer said, smiling as he remembered how the two of them were, together.

On the other side of the room, Chloe coughed, as the ventilator tube was removed and time restarted.  She sat up in the bed.  She was back in her body.

***

 

_______________________________________________________

**As detailed in ‘Happily Ever After?’


	16. Reunions (Continued)

“So, what about all that stuff with  _you_ possessing animals just so you could have sex?” Lucifer asked, leaning on the bar in his penthouse and downing another shot.

“Complete  _bull_ , as the locals here, would say.” Zeus said, laughing at the pun and picking up his own shot. “Just another way for the men of those days to degrade women. I think human men are just naturally jealous of the female orgasm and like to put about the idea that women are totally at the mercy of their base urges and would screw anything.” His speech was losing that stilted other world vibe as he consumed more alcohol, in his corporealized form.

“I don’t understand  _that_ , at all.  _I_  have nothing but a deep respect for the female orgasm.” Lucifer said, glancing across, to the balcony where Chloe was sitting, in happy conversation with Ella and Themis.

“It’s a beautiful thing.” Zeus agreed and they clinked glasses and downed another shot each.

“It was your mother’s idea.”

Lucifer turned to his father, a shocked look on his face.

“She thought, that with childbirth being such a  _painful_  thing, that if women didn’t find a balancin’ amount of pleasure in sex then the species would die out.”

“She actually did good, that time.” Zeus said, pouring himself another drink as Lucifer allowed his father to lead him away from the others.

“How long before you have to give Johnson his body back?” Lucifer asked, glancing up and down at his father’s appearance.

“Oh, this isn’t  _his_ , it’s mine. A fragment of me spent months stuck in his body, courtesy of ‘The Medallion of Life’ and, when it came back to me, I realized I'd got to likin’ it. I’m thinkin’ I might go travellin’ for a year or two, see what it’s like here, from a  _human_  perspective. Being stuck in a mental institution  _was_  a bit limitin’, even if I did meet some interestin’ folks.”

“And got underwear thrown at you, oh and performed the miracle of the extra Jell-O…” Lucifer said, reminiscing with a smirk.

“And watched you and Chloe catch a killer.”

“No. That was all  _her_ , I was medicated out of my mind, if you recall.”

“Yeah. Neat trick you had there, makin’ yourself mortal around her. You didn’t  _consciously_  know that she was in the buildin’ but your  _soul_  knew. Son, you take self harm to a whole nother level.” He shook his head in a kind of wonder.

“Is this where you have a go at me about my wings?”

“First time, when you had Maze amputate ‘em, it was the best thing you could have done.”

“Huh?”

“That moment, five years later, when Chloe saw your scars, was pivotal, for you both. She had her ideas ‘bout you flipped around, with that glimpse of your soul and you… acknowledged your vulnerability, I guess. That opened up all kinds of possibilities.”

“She  _shot_  me that night.”

“That moment was the closest she  _ever_  came to believin’… in  _anythin’_  celestial; until  _you_  rammed it down her throat, that is.”

“I thought she was maybe… I checked her for  _wings_.”

“Now that she  _knows_ … everythin‘… she could have ‘em if she wills it; she can certainly be immortal, in her current body. Unlike you,  _she_  has to  _know_ , belief isn’t enough for her.”

“It was  _belief_  that brought my wings back, all the  _other_  times I cut them off?”

“Yeah, those other times were an exercise in futility and pain;  _you_  kept makin’ ‘em grow back.”

“Because I believed you were toying with me.”

“Well, I hope you know better, now.”

Lucifer looked around them.

"We're as alone as we're going to get, what did you  _really_  want to talk to me about?"

"Cain. Now, don't go jumpin' to conclusions," He added, seeing the look on Lucifer's face. "Killin' him was the only thing you could do and, considerin' the circumstances, I'm impressed that you left it as long as you did."

" _Why_  did you make him immortal?"

"That was  _never_  my intention, Son; the mark was to stop his fellow humans from takin' revenge. Murder has a way of snowballin', I didn't want the first murderer to trigger the second."

"So why his immortality?"

"Belief, of course. The mark was so ' _no one may kill him_ ' but he took that to mean he  _couldn't_  be killed, couldn't even kill  _himself_. I must say watching him torture himself tryin’ was kinda fun, ‘specially the volcano. See, he  _believed_  the rumours, that he was fathered by a celestial and - on a subconscious level - imagined the power to live forever. Course, it didn't help that Amenadiel got the wrong end of the stick, as well."

"Ah, your favourite son messes up again."

"Don't believe everythin' you read in Sumerian. Good stallin' strategy, by the way, makin' him spend  _days_  translatin', the hard way, when you could have just had him sound out the words so  _your_  gift would do it for him."

"I was in no hurry to help them storm Heaven. Besides, it made him feel useful;  _then_  he gets the message that he's your favourite and becomes even more insufferable."

"He should listen to himself, sometimes; tellin' you you're  _evil_ , sayin' how much he hates you and how he would  _love_  a war. Lyin', plottin', schemin' - all things he would assume  _you_  to be capable of - not how  _angels_  are supposed to behave. I hoped that bein' around you would  _help_  him, make him see how  _wrong_  he was; instead he almost got Chloe and Beatrice  _killed_."

"He  _did_  get  _me_  killed."

"And completely failed to notice how forgivin' you were over that. He didn't even believe you when you told him  _I_  was on Earth. You should've seen the look on his face when I put him straight."

They both laugh.

"Anyhow, back to Cain. It didn't escape my notice that Eve referred to him as though he was yours."

"She always called him 'ours' but she meant the  _three_  of us - me, her and Adam - because I was there when he was born. They were both  _so_  scared that night and they called out to me in their prayers and what could I do but answer?" Lucifer said, remembering.

"You helped them?"

"Well, it  _was_  my fault that they got banished and they thought she was  _dying_. It was so dark..."

"So Cain was born by the light of your wings and, later, Adam started rumours that he was  _your_  son?"

"Only after..."

"Abel. Adam, understandably, wanted to distance himself from Cain. That'll be why Eve was so quick to volunteer to walk in your dream and tell you about Chloe, guess she felt bad about it. So, between your siblin's, in The Silver City and Adam, on Earth, 'The Devil' was created - a thing of rumour and slander, growin' worse with each retellin' - and  _you_  seemed more than happy to embody the title..."

"Well, I had the face..."

“So, can you explain what Cain did to you in Hell?”

“I…” Lucifer thought about the nightmare he had endured, before - somehow - Chloe had put it right. “I suppose he knew he was dead and in Hell and managed to work the system…”

“At the risk of sounding like your therapist, you had to have given him the power over you.”

“I felt guilt over killing him…”

“And?”

“Guilt over sending him to Hell  _and_  over what I let him do to Chloe.”

“Yeah, she did feature quite heavily in the ‘hell’ he created for you.”

“I actually prayed for help, to save her.”

“Prayers can’t leave Hell, Son,  _you_  know that.”

“I didn’t know that I was  _there._ I thought it was all  _real_.” Lucifer said, his voice cracking and his eyes glossy with unshed tears.

“None of that, now. Hell is  _your_  kingdom, your rule should be absolute but, right now, your  _wife_  has a better handle on how things work, down there, than  _you_  do. Thanks to  _her_ , Cain’s guilt will eat him alive for the rest of eternity. Neat, the way she can even make a  _sociopath_  feel guilty. Course, in  _his_  case, it helped that he already killed himself over her.”

“No,  _I_ …”

“Because of his feelings for  _her_ , he allowed himself to be mortal and folks were practically standin’ in line to give him his ‘assisted suicide‘,  _you_  just ended up being the one.”

“He thought he’d go to Heaven.”

“He could’ve  _tried_  but he’d never have gotten  _in_. Hell isn‘t  _all_  about guilt and self flagellation; you‘d know that if you‘d bothered to study the place.”

“…” Lucifer looks at his father, speechless.

“I know,  _you_  and everyone else, thought you were being punished and  _I_  couldn’t tell you otherwise because your life would have been in danger. I ‘spose I could’ve tried to explain  _after_  I sent your mother there but I don’t think you’d have listened. I didn’t  _banish_  you, I  _gave_  you The Kingdom of Hell, to rule as  _you_  saw fit…”

“An endlessly depressing place of punishment…”

“Only the soul of its Ruler determines its appearance. Not  _inside_  the cells, obviously but the corridors and your… residence, are a true reflection of  _you_. The day you arrived, burning and desolate, shaped the place. Every day of misery that  _you_  endured, reinforced its pattern. Now, though, another justice driven celestial soul has touched it.” His father had started to speak in the language of Lucifer’s childhood, all pretence at a human accent gone.

“Chloe.”

“Yes. The place responded to her, as  _your_  consort and the changes have been wrought. The ash no longer falls and  _your_  stars are visible in the night sky, my beloved Lightbringer.”

The internal battle that Lucifer had fought  _so_  hard to win, was lost…

　

　

　

 


End file.
